Queen Camilla.Photo: Kirsty O’Connor - Pool/Getty Images
Queen Camillais praising her “remarkable” mother-in-law,Queen Elizabeth.
The Queen Consort paid tribute to the late monarch and said she andKing Charles IIIhad received great “comfort” from the messages of condolence that have been made around the world.
She thanked the wider world for the good wishes and condolences that she and the royal family have received since the Queen diedat Balmoral on Sept. 8.
“Over the past few months, my husband and I have drawn immense comfort from the messages of condolence that we have received, and continue to receive, from the four corners of the world,” she added. “They have reminded us that the written word has a unique ability to connect, to heal, to reassure and to offer hope, even in the midst of grief.”
Queen Camilla.Kirsty O’Connor - Pool/Getty Images
Camilla also reminded of another great Elizabeth —Queen ElizabethI — who came to the throne on this day, Nov. 17, in 1558. “She once said of herself that, while she was aware of the merits of the monarchs who had preceded her, ‘You never had any that will love you better.’ A description that might just as well apply toQueen ElizabethII and her enduring love for the Commonwealth.”
The Commonwealth brings together 54 nations with links to the U.K. (Camilla described it as “this wonderful, extraordinary, richly diverse association of independent and equal nations, and friends”), and it was the late president of one of those countries that Camilla turned to for an inspirational message: Nelson Mandela. Mandela, who as President of South Africa was a guest of the late Queen at Buckingham Palace in 2004, was “a man who understood the power of language,” Camilla said.
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Queen Camilla and former Spice Girl Geri Horner.Kirsty O’Connor - Pool/Getty Images
“He had lost the liberty to fight against the unnatural evils of apartheid, and it was in prison that, over the course of 27 years, he wrote speeches and letters that would change his country, his continent and the globe forever,” she told her guests. “Mandela was a great writer. He was also described as ‘a man of the Commonwealth,’ famously saying, on entering Marlborough House, “the Commonwealth makes the world safe for diversity. The Commonwealth, like writing, touches the whole world.”
Mikhail Baryshnikov and Queen Camilla.Paul Grover/AP/Shutterstock
Thursday’s event marked Queen Camilla’s second solo reception at the palace in as many days. On Wednesday, shehonored dancer Mikhail Baryshnikovwith the prestigiousQueen ElizabethII Coronation Award for his contributions to the art.
Next week, Queen Camilla and King Charles, 74, will be back at the palace, welcoming South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and his wife for the first state visit of the new reign.
source: people.com
