---

Eightieth Birthday of Her Majesty the Queen

The day we were born is the day we started to grow old. The term usually applies to people of 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100, but the whole of living is one process of growing old. The baby grows old, the child grows old, the youth grows old, the mature person is growing old, and the elderly, like myself, are growing really old. Our fathers wrote books that contemplated old age and death, and those books are worth reading. We all must leave this world. That is an unalterable fact. Old age, it has been well said, will be bright if we keep our souls from ageing. Sam Weller remarked of Charles Dickens’ Mr. Pickwick:"““Blest if I don’t think his soul was born 25 years after his body.””" He had a young soul. I hope I have a young soul, and I know, Mr. Speaker, that you are helping yourself to have a younger soul by coming back among us. There is a question that all of us must ask today. It is a simple question: are we allowing ourselves to age in the body, but keeping our souls bright and youthful? One of the greatest blessings of our nation is our beloved Queen, who is so youthful in her soul. She brings to us all a pleasant youthfulness of spirit. What a privilege to have such a monarch. We have been specially blessed as a nation with such a Queen. She has taught and demonstrated to us all that growing old is not a condemnation, but rather a coronation—a coronation by which we have been enriched. Her royal footprints have left behind her welcoming marks on the sands of time, which we are happy to follow."““’Twere better youth were age""Than age were youth again""Youth is regardless of the page""Which age would fear to stain.””" I trust that as we leave the House today, we will remember the immortal words of the poet Browning:"““Grow old along with me!""The best has yet to be,""The last of life, for which the first was made:""Our times are in His hand""Who saith ‘A whole I planned,""Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!’””" I salute Her Majesty the Queen on a glorious declaration; 80 not out.