The Diamond Jubilee is not just an opportunity to celebrate the Queen's 60 year reign. But a chance to remember that we are far more than just disparate individuals but communities and a nation with a proud history; where the Queen and the monarchy has played a incredible role in establishing who we are today, what we stand for and how we are perceived across the world.
“A never to be forgotten day. No one ever, I believe, has met with such an ovation as was given to me, passing through those 6 miles of streets, The crowds were quite indescribable and their enthusiasm truly marvellous and deeply touching. The cheering was quite deafening and every face seemed to be filled with joy”.
This was how Queen Victoria described her own Diamond Jubilee – yet such is the anticipation and excitement surrounding this year's celebrations the quotation might be equally be attributable to Victoria's great-great-granddaughter.
Of all the forty-one monarchs who have reigned over England and the United Kingdom since William the Conqueror, only Her Majesty and Queen Victoria have reached this diamond jubilee land mark. The scale of celebration about to be witnessed – not just in official ceremonies and the pageantry on the Thames but in the hundreds of street parties across the country – reflects the appreciation and reverence she has earned following an extraordinary life of constant and tireless service to the nation.
The Diamond Jubilee is not just an opportunity to celebrate the Queen's 60 year reign. But a chance to remember that we are far more than just disparate individuals but communities and a nation with a proud history; where the Queen and the monarchy has played a incredible role in establishing who we are today, what we stand for and how we are perceived across the world.
Sixty years since her coronation the world is of course, a different, more complex and uncertain place. But despite the social, technological and cultural changes, through good times and bad, whether annus mirabilis or annus horibilus, the Queen has been a reassuring and enduring source of stability, security and inspiration; a permanent anchor in a fast moving world, preserving and promoting Britain's place in what is now a global community.
She has travelled more widely than any other Head of State in history, and is arguably the most respected and admired public figure in the world. We are therefore not just paying tribute to a devoted and dignified life of public service but to the stewardship of a nation which has countenanced the demise of an empire with the formation of a Commonwealth (which in 1952 had just eight members compared with 54 today).
It therefore seems entirely appropriate for Parliament to pay tribute to her Majesty with a similar honour, and in symmetry, to that bestowed upon Queen Victoria, by dedicating part of the iconic Parliamentary estate in the name of her Majesty.
Whilst the 2012 Diamond Jubilee celebrations taking place across Britain give this generation cause to mark its appreciation for the Queen; the scale of cross Party support from Party leaders, front benchers and back benchers alike, to approve the re-naming of the clock tower the 'Elizabeth Tower' is a simple yet symbolic gesture in ensuring future generations are reminded of why her 60 years of committed service, which has helped shape a nation and hold it together, should be singled out.