My Lords, it is indeed a privilege to speak in your Lordships’ House today. I join noble Lords across the House in offering my sincere and heartfelt condolences and, in my capacity as chairman of the National Conservative Convention, I offer those of the Conservative membership to Her Majesty the Queen and the Royal Family on the death of His Royal Highness.
We have heard that throughout his life the Duke of Edinburgh despised flattery, but it is a fact that he embodied a set of values that are still very obviously widely respected: stoicism, duty, courage, service, self-sacrifice, faith, unselfishness, humour and fortitude, to name just a few. He was entirely consistent throughout his life and, for that and his unstinting support of Her Majesty the Queen, the institution of the monarchy and our country, he deserves our gratitude and admiration. His generation, as described by the American journalist, Tom Brokaw, was the greatest generation. Brokaw wrote that it fought not for fame or recognition but because it was the right thing to do. The Duke was one of many who proved that such an accolade was by no means exclusive to Americans: his life was spent doing the right thing.
Speaking to many people over this weekend has made it clear just how many lives he touched and changed, and it is remarkable but indisputably the case that his 22,000 public duties, from his low-key visits to schools, which included my own when I was about 14, to his award scheme ceremonies to high-flown
matters of state provide cherished memories for all those who were there. We will miss His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh. May he rest in peace.
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