It is now a little over a year since Her Majesty The Queen passed away.  No one could have anticipated the huge outpouring of grief that was expressed not just across the land, but across the Commonwealth and the world at large.  Her Majesty was our nation’s rock and support for over 70 years.  Prime Ministers, Presidents, Popes and many other world figures came and went, but Her Majesty remained.  Her commitment to her country and her people was unwavering in her reign and was the envy of all.  Across the world, as President Macron so touchingly said in his own tribute, she was not ‘Our Queen’ but ’The Queen’.

With the passing of a Monarch who did so much to support over her long life her people and her country, it was not unreasonable to think there might be big changes with the coronation of our new King Charles III and Queen Camilla.  But in the first year of his reign, under the King’s calm and compassionate authority, the Monarch’s role has remained just as it has been for so long: steady, focussed, devoted and dependable.  With all the other uncertainties in our world – to mention only the war in Eastern Europe, Brexit and the cost of living crisis – we are blessed to have a monarchy so totally committed to the service and support of the people of our great country.

Michael More-Molyneux

HM Lord-Lieutenant of Surrey