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The States of Alderney heard formal tributes to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II during a special sitting of the government following her death at the age of 96.
On Friday 9 September, just a day after her death, the States of Alderney gathered in her name, ahead of the Principal Proclamation of King Charles III in London today.
Ian Carter, the Chairman of Alderney's Policy and Finance Committee made the following speech to his fellow States Members:
"It is my sad honour to pay tribute our dear Queen Elizabeth 2, on her death on behalf of the States of Aldermey.
"Her Majesty has served for 70 glorious years, and we were all able to share in her magnificent Platinum Jubilee earlier this year. The happiness of the crowds on the Butes and the lighting of the beacon.
"There is now a tremendous sense of loss, and it will be disorientating for many as her timeless presence has steadied the nation when it was needed, for example during the Covid epidemic.
Pictured: Ian Carter.
"She saw so much change in her reign and it would be easy to list those immense changes in science, technology, the social structures that bind us together today as a society. Her constancy through all those dramatic changes is though what binds us together and has maintained the nation’s constancy. This reign, this second Elizabethan era, will be spoken of in the future as one of the most amazing periods of this nation’s great history. She has always been there and for most of the population she has been the only Monarch we have known.
"Those in this chamber today and all those who have served the States of Alderney as States Members in recent history have taken an oath of loyalty to Her Majesty the Queen. This is a serious moment where the rationale for what we do in this chamber and as a government is established. It is a formal link to her Majesty. Every States Meeting either the Lt Governor or his representative have sat here, and they are Her Majesty’s representative here as we go about our work and that thread of loyalty and service will continue, for all of us sat here until today we have served our Monarch, QE2 to the best of our ability.
"Throughout those times of turmoil and change she has always been there; she has been a constancy in all our lives providing a thread of continuity and certainty. She has been there to ease the process of change; she will not be there to ease this tumultuous change but as a country and as a States we will face that change with fortitude. Those 96 years have been 70 years of service as Monarch, service to our country and to us whether in the UK, the Crown dependencies or the wider Commonwealth and indeed the world as for many seeing certainty, constancy and a sureness of service gives them stability in their lives. She provided the lynch pin in our lives and in our mourning, we will remember ways in which she has touched our lives. Some of us may have personal memories of events that we may have attended where we spoke to Her Majesty and had a personal connection, the majority will remember the TV images and actions she took that exemplified service, e,g, Jubillee events, the Christmas broadcast. She provided through her actions a moral framework for our lives. In reflecting on her presence over those many years, we have someone to measure up to; whether it was her faith which underpinned her life, her clear and steadfast commitment to family values however difficult the circumstances and her ability to say the right thing at the right time in times of national crisis. She was utterly dependable wherever and whenever she touched people’s lives. She touched the people of Alderney several times in her visits to this island; her ability to relate to all those she met and the memories she created are here and are present for all to share now as we go forward as a community with that collective memory to both mark her passing and to celebrate the accession of a new Monarch. Those shared memories will help create our tribute as an Island.
"It has been a privilege to be asked to make this tribute on behalf of the States of Alderney, not a speech that I would want to give. Over the coming days there will be many opportunities for all members of this community to make their tributes in ways personal to them. Along with the President I am formally tendering our condolences and sympathy on behalf of Alderney to the Royal household and our thanks for her life of service to the UK, Crown Dependencies, Overseas Territories and the Commonwealth. She will always be remembered with affection and love as we move onto a new age.
"I will conclude with a quote from her Christmas Broadcast in 1957 which I think sums up her remarkable contribution to our nation: ‘I cannot lead you into battle. I do not give you laws or administer justice but I can do something else: I can give you my heart and my devotion to these old Islands, and to all the peoples of the brotherhood of nations.’"
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