Friday, September 16, 2022 - 10:33

A tribute by the Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo Anglican ‘Service of Remembrance’ Holy Trinity Cathedral

So much has been said in the past seven days of Her Majesty the late Queen Elizabeth the Second.
Tributes have rightly flowed freely from around the world.
I do not want to repeat the words of others.
So, I will have to start by repeating my own.
Here in Gibraltar we are all clear.
“We were Her Rock.
She was ours.”

That phrase has connotations beyond the geological, of course.
A rock of support, not just of limestone.
Because She was our own ‘strength and stay’ when we faced adversity.
Never more so than in the closed frontier years.
Or at the febrile time of the referendum and the restrictions.
She personified the Crown to which we pledge allegiance and from which we derive our strength.
Many of us must have seen Her image in our minds as we debated the vexed issue of the sovereignty of Gibraltar.
Whenever we say we are British, how many of us didn’t see Her, in our mind’s eye, as the Britannia to which we pledge our loyalty?
I have no doubt that Queen Elizabeth The Second was the modern embodiment of Britannia in many a mind’s eye.
Even the embodiment of ‘Cool Britannia’ in Her stints with 007 and that funny Peruvian bear who popped into Buckingham Palace and stole Her marmalade sandwiches.
And in Her official duties we never heard Her give us an opinion.
She did not need to.