Duty undiminished, the Queen shows politicians how to command our trust

Our political class needs to step up and show that even as we pay tribute to the slain and the buried, our wartime spirit lives on

Service and sacrifice. Dedication and duty. On a Remembrance Sunday like no other, Her Majesty the Queen watched the ceremony from a balcony, standing tall to honour the fallen.

Now aged 94, she is rightly regarded as the embodiment of that wartime generation characterised by stoicism and steadfastness. But their numbers sadly dwindle with each November that passes.

Here in 2020, Britain is battling a very different, unseen enemy. The long shadows cast by Covid-19 made for a pared-down occasion; instead of 10,000 veterans proudly representing their regiments, there were just 25 at the Cenotaph.

The massed bands were reduced to just one and spectators were barred.

Instead, members of the Royal family bore witness and at the centre stood the Queen, a symbol of continuity and fortitude who puts our blowhard politicians to shame.

Days earlier Her Majesty had paid a private visit to the tomb of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey. Dressed in black and wearing a mask, as required inside places of worship, she arrived without fanfare.

Head bowed yet uncowed, she paid her respects to those brave men and women who fought for our freedom in conflicts across the globe, just as she has done for decades.

There is comfort to be had from ritual, no matter how testing the socially distanced circumstances. In the near-deserted nave the Queen cut a solitary figure – yet paradoxically she made us feel less alone.

Bombastic world leaders come and, as we have seen in the US, go. Our elected representatives argue and bicker over pandemic policies that change with alarming speed. Repeated about-turns have seen this government run in circles.

Throughout it all, the Queen has remained a dignified, unifying beacon of hope. When she spoke to us back in April and gave us the assurance “We will meet again”, her quiet conviction was balm to the nation’s soul. If only younger generations were so resilient. Truth be told, in these past turbulent months, it has been the very oldest who have demonstrated both fortitude and a determination not just to keep calm and carry on but make a real and lasting contribution during this terrible crisis.

Doughty centenarian Captain Sir Tom Moore raised an astonishing £33 million for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his Bedfordshire garden before his 100th birthday.

In Newbury, 104-year-old Ruth Saunders walked the equivalent of a marathon in aid of Thames Valley Air Ambulance. Meanwhile in Hastings, double heart attack survivor Joan Willet, also 104, walked up and down the steep hill next to her residential home in aid of The British Heart Foundation.

These are the Queen’s peers, who, like her, and the Duke of Edinburgh, have lived through a turbulent century.

They have experienced war and the pity of war, as Wilfred Owen put it. Yet even now in their twilight years, their sense of duty remains undiminished.

This Sunday morning was not just a poignant reminder of our past but a reflection of our present.

In the deserted purlieus of Whitehall, where the streets echoed emptier than a politician’s promise, it was Her Majesty who commanded attention without saying a word.

Our Prime Minister, who laid a wreath at the Cenotaph as is the tradition, would do well to ponder the depth of public affection and respect for the House of Windsor versus the scepticism and antipathy directed towards the House at Westminster.

The Queen can rely on our loyalty because she has earned our trust. She is unwavering and consistent.

We also know she will always put the best interests of the nation first.

Can the same really be said of those who govern us?

The time has come for Boris Johnson and his Cabinet to muster precisely that sort of mettle.

We are fighting for our lives and our livelihoods in the face of a deadly virus.

Our political class needs to step up and show that even as we pay tribute to the slain and the buried, our wartime spirit lives on.