Boris: We grieve for Elizabeth the Great
Former PM leads chorus of tributes with warm eulogy on ‘country’s saddest day’
FORMER prime minister Boris Johnson led tributes to the Queen last night, as he declared: ‘This is our country’s saddest day.’
A heartfelt eulogy from Mr Johnson, who met with the Queen on Tuesday to resign as PM, captured the unanticipated power of the nation’s grief over the beloved monarch’s death.
He said: ‘ In the hearts of every one of us there is an ache at the passing of our Queen, a deep and personal sense of loss – far more intense than we expected.
‘In these first grim moments since the news, I know that millions of people have been pausing whatever they have been doing to think about Queen Elizabeth, about the bright and shining light that has finally gone out.
‘She seemed so timeless and so wonderful that I am afraid we had come to believe, like children, that she would just go on and on.
‘As is so natural with human beings, it is only when we face the reality of our loss that we truly understand what has gone. It is only really now we grasp how much she meant for us, how much she did for us, how much she loved us.
‘As we think of the void she leaves, we understand the vital role she played, selflessly and calmly embodying the continuity and unity of our country.’
Mr Johnson said that ‘wave after wave of grief’ was ‘rolling across the world’, particularly through the ‘great Commonwealth of nations she so cherished and which cherished her in return’.
He paid tribute to the Queen’s ‘ seemingly inexhaustible but understated sense of duty’.
He added: ‘This is our country’s saddest day because she had a unique and simple power to make us happy. That is why we loved her. That is why we grieve for Elizabeth the Great, the longest serving and in many ways the finest monarch in our history.’
Mr Johnson was among the six living former prime ministers of the Queen’s reign to pay tribute.
Theresa May, the Conservative prime minister between 2016 and 2019, said she had been ‘admired not only by her own people but far beyond our family of nations’.
David Cameron said the Queen had been ‘a rock of strength’, while Gordon Brown, Labour prime minister between 2007 and 2010, said: ‘The United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and the entire world are joined together in mourning.’
Sir Tony Blair focused on her role as the one constant in British life over seven decades. ‘ From the moment I waved my little flag as I watched her, as a child, be driven through the streets of Durham, to the honour of being her prime minister, to my last meeting with her and then lunching with her at Windsor Castle for the Garter ceremony just a few months ago, she has been an enduring presence of strength and stability,’ he said.
Former Tory prime minister Sir John Major said the Queen was ‘selfless and wise, with a wonderful generosity of spirit’.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer described the Queen as a ‘remarkable sovereign’. And Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the monarch’s death was ‘a profoundly sad moment’, and paid tribute to her life of ‘extraordinary dedication and service’.
Prince Andrew’s ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, said she was ‘heartbroken’ at the Queen’s death and paid tribute to her ‘extraordinary legacy’
She added: ‘To me, she was the most incredible mother-in-law and friend. I will always be grateful to her for the generosity she showed me in remaining close to me even after my divorce. I will miss her more than words can express.’
Meanwhile, Paddington Bear also
offered his respect to the late monarch just a few months after they warmed the nation’s hearts with an afternoon tea sketch at Buckingham Palace for the Platinum Jubilee concert.
The bear said in tweet: ‘Thank you Ma’am, for everything.’
Harry Potter author JK Rowling described her as ‘a thread winding through all our lives’.
‘She did her duty by the country right up until her dying hours… she’s earned her rest.’
MI6 chief, Richard Moore, said the Queen had displayed a ‘burning sense of duty’ and described her as ‘ the longest- running reader of intelligence reports’.
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: ‘In losing our beloved Queen, we have lost the person whose steadfast loyalty, service and humility has helped us make sense of who we are through decades of extraordinary change in our world, nation and society.’
She left behind a ‘truly extraordinary legacy’, he added.