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Notable quotes of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II Passes Away: Here is a selection of extracts from speeches, addresses and contributions to documentaries given by the queen
Britain's Queen Elizabeth, who died on Thursday aged 96, never gave an interview during her 70-year reign, but her regular public speeches sometimes gave an insight into her private thoughts.
Here is a selection of extracts from speeches, addresses and contributions to documentaries given by the queen:
1. "It's inevitable that I should seem a rather remote figure to many of you, a successor to the kings and queens of history.
"I cannot lead you into battle. I do not give you laws or administer justice. But I can do something else. I can give you my heart and my devotion to these old islands and to all the peoples of our brotherhood of nations."
- First televised Christmas broadcast in 1957.
2. "When peace comes, remember it will be for us, the children of today, to make the world of tomorrow a better and happier place. My sister is by my side and we are both going to say goodnight to you. Come on, Margaret. Goodnight, children. Goodnight, and good luck to you all."
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- Wartime broadcast with her younger sister, Princess Margaret, Oct. 13, 1940.
3. "We cheered the king and the queen on the balcony and then walked miles through the streets. I remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall, all of us just swept along on a tide of happiness and relief.
"I think it was one of the most memorable nights of my life."
- Speaking to the BBC in 1985 about joining street celebrations for VE Day in London in May 1945.
4. "I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong."
- Speech on her 21st birthday, April 21, 1947, broadcast on the radio from Cape Town.
5. "The ceremonies you have seen today are ancient, and some of their origins are veiled in the mists of the past. But their spirit and their meaning shine through the ages never, perhaps, more brightly than now.
"I have in sincerity pledged myself to your service, as so many of you are pledged to mine. Throughout all my life and with all my heart I shall strive to be worthy of your trust."
- Speech on her Coronation Day, June 2, 1953.
6. "Like all the best families, we have our share of eccentricities, of impetuous and wayward youngsters and of disagreements."
- Speech to heads of state aboard the royal yacht Britannia, October 1989.
7. "1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an 'annus horribilis'."
- Speech in the City of London, November 1992 after a fire at Windsor Castle and the failure of three of her children's marriages.
8. "What I say to you now, as your queen and as a grandmother, I say from my heart ... No one who knew Diana will ever forget her. Millions of others who never met her, but felt they knew her, will remember her.
"I for one believe there are lessons to be drawn from her life and from the extraordinary and moving reaction to her death. I share in your determination to cherish her memory."
- Televised address following the death of Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris, September 1997.
