tidings
Clint Chan Tack
Members of the House of Representatives followed the lead of their counterparts in Britain’s House of Representatives on Friday and paid lavish tributes to Queen Elizabeth II.
The Queen, 96, died on Thursday at her royal estate in Balmoral, Scotland.
Acting Prime Minister Colm Imbert led the tributes. Imbert said Trinidad and Tobago joined the rest of the world in mourning the Queen’s death and in offering condolences to the royal family (including her successor, King Charles III) and the British people.
For more than two generations, he continued, the British people have known only one sovereign.
“She was their only constant in a rapidly developing world, and many have never known a world without her.”
Imbert said evidence of this lay in the fact that the Queen saw the installation of 15 British prime ministers, starting with Sir Winston Churchill and ending with Liz Truss, two days before her death.
Acknowledging the absence of the prime minister, who is currently in Europe on state business, which included a meeting with British Petroleum executives in London on Thursday, Imbert said: “Today we speak with one voice in the language of grief and loss as we reflect. on the contribution made by Her Majesty the Queen”.
Dominating global politics for more than 70 years, Imbert said, the Queen’s leadership provided the platform for “the creation of modern Britain”. Recalling that she took the throne aged 25 after the death of her father, King George VI, in 1952, Imbert said the queen “navigated some of the greatest challenges of the last century and this century”.
These included the Covid19 pandemic and Brexit, which saw Britain leave the European Union on 31 January 2020.
Through these and other tumultuous events, Imbert said, the queen was always “the embodiment of the grace and enduring calm that won her so many praises and admirers.”
Noting her commitment to serving the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth never wavered with age or health, Imbert recalled the Queen’s visits to the TT in 1966, 1985 and 2009 (when the TT hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting – CHOGM)
As a cabinet minister in the then-Patrick Manning administration, Imbert had fond memories of that visit. He revealed that many people did not know that the Queen “was an ardent admirer of our steel belt and insisted that the TT Defense Force Steel Orchestra play at her recently concluded (diamond) jubilee celebrations.”
He said the images of the Queen smiling at the orchestra’s performance of Abba’s Dancing Queen during those celebrations are etched in the minds of millions of people around the world forever.
That song, Imbert continued, “was a fitting tribute to a monarch who celebrated the culture of every Commonwealth nation”.
He said the queen had created something that will live forever.
“Queen Elizabeth II set a model of leadership that is more than worthy of our emulation.”
Imbert said condolence books will be available in the rotunda of the Red House and at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Caricom for people who wish to write their condolences.
“In due course, we will advise on other ways, if necessary, TT will mourn the death of Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.”
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar recalled meeting the Queen at the 2011 CHOGM in Australia when she was prime minister. She said the queen was an inspiration to women and girls around the world.
“Today, as women around the globe traverse the halls of power in every field, we can all say that Queen Elizabeth II stood as one of the early pioneers to inspire young women around the globe to believe that not only can women equal men at the wheel, but they can lead them.”
President Bridgid Annisette-George agreed with Imbert and Persad-Bissessar on the Queen’s legacy to the world. She recalled being among the many happy school children who were in Port of Spain when she visited TT in 1966.
“The Queen fulfilled this role with great humility and, I cannot help but notice, elegant elegance. Her legacy to me proves that privilege goes hand in hand with service, duty, responsibility and self-restraint.”
Before MPs stood for a minute’s silence in memory of the Queen, Annisette-George said her life was an example that current TT leaders and those aspiring to lead should follow.
