Julie Spence, OBE QPM DL, Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire, offers this tribute to Her Majesty the Queen.
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is not alone in mourning the news of the death of HM The Queen – as this is a sadness we share with the whole country and indeed the Commonwealth.
As the longest reigning monarch of modern times, she is the only sovereign most of the people of this country have ever known, and news of her death has touched and saddened us all.
Our particular love and affection has been deepened and strengthened by the links she has to our area and the frequent visits she has made to this county, since making her first official visit as monarch to the City of Cambridge in October 1955.
Her Majesty was the patron of more than 600 charities and organisations, many with local links, this included a number of Cambridge University colleges such as Queen’s College, Gonville and Caius, Trinity and Pembroke.
Less well known – but no less important – was her patronage of the Peterborough Royal Foxhound Show Society.
All those organisations who have benefitted from this association will feel her loss.
Her most recent visit to our area was to formally open the new Royal Papworth Hospital in 2019, granting to it the Royal honorific and I was privileged to be able to welcome her on that day.
The crowds of local people who turned out to welcome her then, mourn her today.
We realise our sadness can be as nothing to those of her family, in particular our new Sovereign His Majesty King Charles III and the Queen Consort and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis who have lost a beloved Mother, Grandmother and Great-Grandmother.
Our thoughts and prayers are with them
