Queen Elizabeth yesterday marked her golden wedding anniversary by giving the clearest signal yet that the British monarchy is prepared to accept radical change. In a speech which hinted at future constitutional reform, she said hereditary monarchy only existed with the support and consent of the people. She was speaking at the Banqueting Hall in Whitehall at a lunch held by the government in her and the Duke of Edinburgh's honour.
The royal couple were joined by "ordinary" people chosen as a cross-section of the nation, in a deliberately informal "people's banquet".
In her most crucial speech since the death of Princess Diana the queen said the royal family would try to interpret public opinion correctly. In remarks that came close to contrition, she said: "For us, a royal family . . . the message is often harder to read, obscured as it can be by deference, rhetoric or the conflicting currents of public opinion. But read it we must."
The speech demonstrated that the queen is still trying to come to terms with the disastrous week which followed Diana's death, when the monarchy appeared to be remote, unfeeling and beleaguered.
The queen said that, despite the huge constitutional difference between a hereditary monarchy and an elected government, in reality the gulf was not so wide. "They are complementary institutions, each with its own role to play, and each in its different way exists only with the support and consent of the people."
Queen Elizabeth paid a warm tribute to her husband, declaring: "He is someone who doesn't take easily to compliments but he has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years, and I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know."
She thanked all those in Britain and around the world who had welcomed and sustained the royal family "in good times and the bad, so unstintingly over many years". She added: "This has given us strength, most recently during the sad days after the tragedy of Diana's death."
In his speech, the Prime Minister, Mr Blair, robustly defended the role of monarchy in a modernised Britain and described the queen as "unstuffy, unfussy and unfazed by anything - with a keen sense of humour and a mean ability for mimicry" and as the "essence of dignity . . . that is very much down to earth".
He also referred to the "terrible test" the royal family went through following Diana's death almost three months ago. "I know from the conversations we had during those days, how deeply you felt those events for yourself, Princes Charles and the boys. I know too, contrary to some of the hurtful things that were said at the time, how moved you were by the outpouring of grief which followed as, in the security and sanctity of your own home, you sought as a family to help the boys."
He continued: "A strong and flourishing monarchy can play the same full part in a new modern Britain as it has in the past."
Agencies add: Earlier yesterday the bells of Westminster Abbey greeted the royal couple. Awaiting them, beside the altar were their children - Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward - and grandchildren - William, Harry, Peter and Zara Phillips, Beatrice and Eugenie. The Queen Mother looked on.
The congregation included the largest gathering in Britain of European royalty since Queen Elizabeth's coronation in 1953. They included: King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain, the former King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, Queen Beatrix and Prince Claus of The Netherlands, King Albert and Queen Paola of the Belgians, Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik of Denmark, King Carl Gustaf XVI and Queen Silvia of Sweden, King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway, the former King Michael and Queen Anne of Romania, and the Bulgarian pretenders, King Simeon II and Queen Margarita.
The President, Mrs McAleese, yesterday sent a message to Queen Elizabeth, offering "warmest personal congratulations" and congratulations on behalf of the people of Ireland.