quatre1six:

Your Majesty, Mummy…

I’m sure you’d want me to thank, on your behalf, all the wonderful people who made tonight possible. All the performers, the artists, the musicians, the comedians, who made such jolly good jokes… Gary Barlow for helping to make the whole thing possible, and above all, those remarkable technicians, all 600 of them behind the scenes, without which nothing would happen.

And if I may say so, Your Majesty, thank God the weather turned out fine, and the reason, of course, is because I didn’t do the forecast.

Your Majesty, millions, we are told, dream of having tea with you. Quite a lot of people have very nearly had a picnic dinner with you in the garden in Buckingham Palace.

The only sad thing about this evening is that my father couldn’t be here with us because, unfortunately, he is taken unwell, but, ladies and gentlemen, if we shout loud enough, he might just hear you in hospital and get better.

Your Majesty, a diamond jubilee is a unique and special event. Some have had the joy of celebrating three jubilees with you, and I have the medals to prove it, and we are now celebrating the life and service of a very special person over the last 60 years.

I was three when my grandfather, King George VI, died, and suddenly, unexpectedly your and my father’s lives were irrevocably changed when you were only 26. So, as a nation, this is our opportunity to thank you and my father for always being there for us, for inspiring us with your selfless duty and service, and for making us proud to be British. Proud at a time when I know how many of our fellow countrymen are suffering such hardships and difficulties. Proud to be lining the banks of the Thames in their millions despite the rain and the cold. Proud to be part of something as unique as the Commonwealth, which through your leadership has given us that essential sense of unity through diversity.

So, Your Majesty, we offer you our humble duty and with it three resounding cheers for Our Majesty The Queen.

Hip hip! Hooray! Hip hip! Hooray! Hip hip! Hooray!

-Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales, to his mother mummy, The Queen [x]