The Hindu : I will not step aside, says queen

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 01, 2002

International

International

I will not step aside, says queen

LONDON April 30. Britain's Queen Elizabeth sent a clear signal today that she does not intend to step aside for her son Prince Charles and, in her 50th year on the throne, praised her country's multicultural tolerance in changing times. Addressing both Houses of Parliament — the first major public event of her Golden Jubilee year — the queen said she intended to remain on the throne to help Britain prosper.

"I would like above all to declare my resolve to continue, with the support of my family, to serve the people of this great nation of ours to the best of my ability," the turquoise-suited monarch told politicians and peers in Parliament's cavernous Westminster Hall. Since the death of the queen's mother last month, some commentators have suggested the 76-year-old monarch should step down, something she has never shown any inclination to do.

Prince Charles, already 53, could still be many years from becoming king in a family noted for its longevity. The Queen Mother, propelled to the throne with King George VI in 1936 after the abdication of his brother, always rejected the idea that monarchs could willingly give up their birthright.

Addressing more than 1,500 people in the medieval hall where her mother's body recently lay in state, the queen said the development of a "richly multicultural" society had been one of the major changes of her reign. "We...take pride in our tradition of fairness and tolerance. The consolidation of our richly multicultural and multifaith society, a major development since 1952, is being achieved remarkably peacefully and with much goodwill," she said.

Fears of a new extremism have engulfed Europe since far right leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, shocked France by winning through to a run-off in the country's Presidential election. Britain has its own local elections this week. The extremist British National Party could gain a toe-hold in some deprived pockets although it is nowhere near as prominent as Le Pen's party.

The queen said Britain and the royal family must continue to evolve. "Change has become a constant. The way we embrace it defines our future," she said, noting that her reign had encompassed the birth of the Commonwealth and European Union, the end of the Cold War and now the threat of international terrorism.

The queen was preceded into the hall by red-coated Beefeaters with white ruffs around their necks, carrying pikestaffs. They were followed by the queen's Body Guard, red uniformed with white feather plumes sprouting from their helmets, marching slowly in time.

Eight, gold braided trumpeters heralded her arrival, standing in front of the hall's stained glass window.

But the queen said Britain could not live in the past and had nothing to fear from the future.

"We are a moderate, pragmatic people, more comfortable with practice than theory," she said.

Reuters

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