In 1947 Queen Elizabeth II, then 21-year-old Princess Elizabeth, made the following oath to devote her life to the service of our nation and the Commonwealth. A promise that she kept until her death today at the age of 96. It is in the keeping of this promise Her Majesty earned the respect of a teenager, and the respect and deep honour of the older man I am now. To live a life of duty, constantly in the public eye cannot of been easy. How many times must she have wanted to just walk away and be done with it? She didn’t. For that I cannot disrespect her, for that I cannot dishonour her – this beautiful girl coming into her womanhood gave us her all, and today we say good bye, Ma’am, and thank you.

I have never known anyone else as my head of state, and ruler of…