Whisper it ... but is this a royal handover?
No one actually talked about a ‘handover’, let alone ‘succession’. But the message was abundantly clear yesterday as the Head of the Commonwealth addressed the leaders of 53 countries with the Prince of Wales at her side: here is the future.
opening the three- day summit of what she likes to call her ‘ family of nations’ in Malta, the Queen made her clearest affirmation yet that she wishes the Commonwealth to maintain its links with the Crown and the Royal Family through the next generation and beyond.
Praising Prince Philip’s ‘boundless energy and commitment’ to the organisation, she continued: ‘ Nor could I wish to have been better supported and represented in the Commonwealth than by the Prince of Wales who continues to give so much to it with great distinction.’
Before her sat the most eclectic club on the global circuit. All Commonwealth leaders enjoy equal status, so that the Prime Minister of tiny Tuvalu gets the same motorcade as David Cameron or the new Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau.
The only major world leader with a tattoo, Mr Trudeau, 43, brought added glamour to yesterday’s summit in the form of his wife, Sophie. Her pink hat – a giant rose in full bloom – upstaged both the robes of President Buhari of Nigeria and the Elvis sideburns of Botswana’s President Khama. All heard the Queen make her feelings plain: ‘I feel enormously proud of what the Commonwealth has achieved, and all of it within my lifetime.’ She went on to praise ‘the power of the Commonwealth to effect real change for generations to come’.
But what about royal generations to come?
Unlike all the other trappings which go with being the British Sovereign, the Commonwealth is not automatic. All agree the Queen has been the single most important factor in keeping the whole thing going. But as she approaches her 90th birthday (and Prince Philip’s 95th), it is acknowledged that thought must be given to the future.
So this trip is about dropping hints and testing waters. Hence the carefully enhanced role for the Prince of Wales at this summit. As well as sharing the stage with the Queen at the opening ceremony for the first time, the Prince was also invited behind closed doors to address an executive session of the summit – something the Queen has never done.
And last night, as the Prince and the Duchess of Cornwall helped the Queen to host her traditional banquet – she had brought her own Commonwealth goblets from London – it was increasingly clear that the future Royal connection is
secure. ‘I’m not even sure why there’s a question about it,’ John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand, told me. ‘ The title should just go with the Crown. The Commonwealth would be insane to think otherwise.’
This weekend also gives the Commonwealth a chance to revive itself. Critics claim that it badly needs a new raison d’etre to remain relevant in the 21st Century. But terrorism and climate change have given added purpose to this summit. And Britain’s upcoming European referendum is a reminder of a network which contains most of our oldest and closest allies and costs peanuts (its £50million budget equals 0.03 per cent of the EU’s).
Reforms are imminent. Yesterday saw the appointment of its first female secretary general, Baroness Scotland, former Attorney General.
Although the future has been at the top of the Royal agenda here, this is a trip laden with memories for the Queen. Malta is the one place outside the United Kingdom she has called home. It was here, as a Princess, that she led an ‘ordinary’ life between 1949 and 1951 when Prince Philip was stationed on the island with the Royal Navy.
The one sadness of this week’s visit is that she could not return to her old home, the Villa Guardamangia. Its walls are cracked, its paint peeling and its doors are firmly locked. Despite calls for it to be restored and opened to the public, there is one stumbling block: the owner. ‘ The Queen is not coming here and there is nothing more to say,’ an elderly lady informed me from a first floor window this week.
Today there will be happier memories as the Queen and Duke return to the racecourse where he used to play polo. He is clearly enjoying his trip too. Yesterday, during a visit to Valetta’s Anglican cathedral, he had the Roman Catholic archbishop in giggles. ‘I’ll let you in to a little secret,’ the Duke whispered. ‘We are all Christians, you know!’