His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Eleanor Laing Excerpts

Monday 12th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr Sheerman)—what a lovely and fitting tribute he paid. I too pay tribute on behalf of my constituents to the extraordinary long life, filled with service, of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. When I was Leader of the Commons and Lord President of the Council between 2017 and 2019, I had the privilege of regularly meeting Her Majesty the Queen, and I met Prince Philip on a number of occasions. Is it not wonderful that everybody in this place seems to have their own stories of meeting members of the royal family? How wonderful it is that they have reached out to us all over such a long period.

In particular, I recall a lunch at Windsor castle where I had the pleasure of sitting next to His Royal Highness. The noble Baroness the Leader of the Lords and I were chatting with him at length about his role in the restoration of Windsor castle, following the 1992 fire—a role for which he was awarded the Europa Nostra medal for his commitment to making the past reflect the importance of the future. The noble Baroness and I shared our ambition to see the restoration and renewal of the Houses of Parliament. In the peppery way for which Prince Philip is world famous, he was in absolutely no doubt about the need to, shall we say, get on with it, and he was slightly dubious about whether Members of this House and the other House might ever settle themselves down and find a way forward—so, colleagues, take note, please.

I also had a more personal encounter, which to this day is an extraordinary family memory for me, Ben and our sons, Fred and Harry, when we were invited to a garden party at Buckingham Palace. The Queen’s private secretary was kind enough to introduce my family to the Queen and Prince Philip. Fred—my eldest son—to his great delight, had been presented his gold Duke of Edinburgh Award by Prince Philip at his last ceremony before stepping down from public duties. Fred mentioned this with pride, whereupon Prince Philip turned to Harry and said, “What about you, young man?” Harry told him that he, too, had completed all stages of his gold DofE Award, but I am afraid that I was unable to resist throwing in that he had not completed the paperwork and so would not be getting his award any time soon, whereupon Prince Philip looked at Harry fiercely from under his eyebrows and said, “Well, you’d better get on with it, young man.” Harry told me afterwards that of all the many terrible things that I have done to him as his mother, probably the worst of all was telling tales about him in the presence of Prince Philip and Her Majesty the Queen.

It was an incredible honour to hold the office of Lord President of the Council because it provided a bird’s eye view of Her Majesty the Queen’s and Prince Philip’s extraordinary commitment to duty. I would like to finish by paying humble tribute to their extraordinary achievements together, and by sending the Queen the deepest condolences on her very sad loss.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

The right hon. Lady is absolutely right about everyone having recollections of their encounters with Prince Philip. I have never forgotten the advice that he gave me—I have never told anyone what it was, and I am not going to now—when, as chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, he came to the students’ ball, and I was, as a very young and naive 21-year-old, the union president. I had the privilege of spending a few hours that evening with him, and I vividly remember how unexpectedly kind, charming and absolutely inspiring he was. As many people have said, he has made such a difference to the lives of so many young people. I was one of them, for which I am eternally grateful. He will be so greatly missed.

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[Sir David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

I pay this tribute to his Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh not just in a personal capacity, but on behalf of those residents I represent in the constituency of Southend West who would like to express their appreciation of everything the Duke has done for our nation.

Without question, the Duke of Edinburgh was one of my favourite royals. He really was my sort of person. We most definitely shared the same sense of humour, which not everyone understands and occasionally gets you into hot water, but there was never any malice. He was kind, generous, wise and a thoroughly decent person.

For someone who lived so long—just short of 100 years, and how I was looking forward to his sending a message to my annual centenarians’ tea party!—it was incredible that he did so much throughout his life. His childhood, his upbringing and what followed were quite extraordinary. It is not everyone whose mother becomes a nun and it is not everyone who has suffered so many personal tragedies, all carried out in the public gaze; yet in spite of innumerable challenges, he really did make the most of his life, whatever it threw up. In that, he set a wonderful example, hence the Duke of Edinburgh Awards.

I met him on a number of occasions, and I have three stand-out memories. When, together with the Queen, he visited Southend and they were going on to my former constituency of Basildon, he suggested I join them in the car; I did not think that would go down particularly well. For many years, I was associated with the Caravan Club, and he hosted a garden party at Buckingham Palace in 2007 for the club’s centenary. It was a wonderful occasion. Finally, at another event, he acted as the host of a Buckingham Palace reception on a rare occasion when Her Majesty was unwell, and we had a very amusing exchange, which I am not prepared to broadcast publicly.

For me, his lasting legacies will be as follows. I have had the privilege of handing out the wonderful Duke of Edinburgh Awards on many occasions. I am very involved with the scouts, many of whom subsequently went on to achieve the award. There was such pride and joy in the faces of the recipients, who really felt they had achieved something. Then there was his wonderful work through the World Wildlife Fund. He loved animals, and was passionate about the conservation of endangered species and the preservation of our environment long before it became a popular cause. His greatest legacy from my point of view is probably the support that he has given to our Queen. I doubt she would have been the wonderful monarch she is without the support her husband has given her over so many years.

Finally, I am drawn to two remarks made by members of the royal family following the Duke’s death. The first was from his daughter, Anne, who said:

“You know it’s going to happen but you are never really ready”,

and his daughter-in-law, the Countess of Wessex said:

“it was like someone took him by the hand and off he went”.

His spirit will live on in his children and grandchildren, who I hope will take notice of his wise counsels for the future of our monarchy. We will not see his like again. May he now rest in peace and receive his just reward.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

We are not operating with time limits this afternoon—I hope we can be dignified and find that that is not necessary—but if everybody adheres to Mr Speaker’s request to speak for three minutes or less, each and every colleague who has indicated that they would like to speak will have the opportunity to do so.

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[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

We now go, by audio link only, to Ian Paisley.

[Ian Paisley (North Antrim) (DUP) [V]]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is an honour—[Interruption.]

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

Order. No, I am afraid that it is not going to work. We will move on, and come back to Mr Paisley when we can.

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[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

We now go, or I hope we do, to Ian Paisley—[Interruption.] We will try yet again later to contact Mr Paisley. Meanwhile, I call Tobias Elwood.