Lawmakers in the Cayman Islands delivered tributes to Queen Elizabeth II and paid their respects to the royal family in a special session of Parliament on Monday afternoon.
The session, one of several events held as part of the period of national mourning, began with a minute of silence in the House witnessed by a number of visiting tourism ministers and dignitaries, who are in Grand Cayman for the Caribbean Tourism Organization and International Air Transport Association conference.
Declaring the late Queen “a model of decency”, House Speaker McKeeva Bush, who started the session with his tribute, recounted having met the Queen six times, saying that “she reflected diplomacy and grace”.
“She was a queen for the people, and this could even be seen in the way she signed her letters simply as ‘Your Servant’ that speaks volumes of who she was. Her personal deportment and decorum… the entire manner in which she conducted herself was truly exceptional. She has left an impeccable record and made a stellar contribution that is exemplary and matchless,” he said.
‘Consummate leader’ lost
Bush said the late Queen was the consummate leader and public servant with incredible integrity, “even though she was adamantly disciplined, and a stickler for protocol, she was minded to modernise and took measures that were transformational for our way of life.”
Governor Martyn Roper, speaking next, said the late Queen was arguably “the greatest monarch we have had, and one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known”.
“She was a remarkable figurehead for the UK and its Overseas Territories during times of enormous social change. We were privileged to host her late majesty twice in Cayman in 1983 and 1994,” he said.
The late Queen, he said, had a remarkable quality of putting people at ease and had a magnetism that made you smile.
“Her dignity, calmness, steadfastness, and incomparable dedication to duty set an outstanding example for all of us,” the governor added.
He added, she was “unquestionably the greatest public servant we will see in our lifetimes, a quite extraordinary lady who will be greatly missed”.
Reflecting also on the late Queen’s visits, Premier Wayne Panton said, “Many Caymanians treasure the memories they have of meeting the Queen when more than a quarter of the island’s population turned out in 1983 to greet the Queen and Prince Philip at the Owen Roberts International Airport… it was the year she officially opened The Pines Retirement Home”.
She returned in 1984, he said, and during that visit she knighted Sir Vassel Johnson and opened the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park.
The late Queen, he said, was “a dignified, decent and deeply respected world leader”.
“She held steady steer through economic challenges, periods of geopolitical tension, climate change, personal challenges, and yes, the COVID-19 pandemic. Through it all she remained measured and dignified, becoming one of the most respected leaders in modern history,” he said.
Legacy to emulate
Panton, in his message to leaders, said the first takeaway from the late Queen’s legacy should be to “focus on our purpose”.
“We have in her legacy an impeccable example of a leader who was crystal clear in her purpose and the purpose of her role. Her purpose was to ensure good governance and to be of service to the public,” he said.
Turning his attention to King Charles III, who has now assumed the role as head of the British monarchy, Panton said he was confident that the new King will “meet and exceed the expectations the world has of him”.
“He is well prepared for the burden and responsibilities of his role. He has had the benefit of excellent tutelage over the course of a long apprenticeship. His late mother set [an] unquestionably stellar… example for him. All this will stand him in good stead to continue as he leads this, as a sovereign of Britain, and its realms,” Panton said.
Opposition Leader Roy McTaggart, in his contribution, said as the Cayman Islands “have grown and developed as a nation, our queen has been a constant and unswerving presence”.
“It was during her reign that we received our coat of arms and our first Constitution, and that commitment that Caymanians made to the United Kingdom has been reciprocated in the love and affection that our Queen has shown for our islands and our people,” he said.
McTaggart, reflecting on the task ahead for King Charles III, said “this must be an exceptionally difficult time. Even as he grieves the passing of his mother he finds himself swept up in a myriad of new deep duties that he must now take on and fulfil”.
“I pray that his own faith and his belief in everlasting life will sustain him through this time of trial. The tradition of the immediate passing of the crown from one head to another has given rise to the custom of marking the death of our Queen with a cry of ‘God Save the King’ in both recognition of his birthright and as a statement of hope for the future,” McTaggart said.
Impact felt around the world
Deputy Premier Chris Saunders pointed out that despite how people felt about the monarchy, the late Queen Elizabeth II “transcended the very monarchy that she represented”.
“Not only did she redefine a monarchy in today’s world, she became a larger-than-life figure, so much so that regardless of what you thought about a monarchy, you couldn’t help but admire and respect the person,” Saunders said.
Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan pointed out that countries have saluted the late Queen in special ways, from the Eiffel Tower being shut off in commemoration of her reign to the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro being lit up in the colours of the UK.
For the Cayman Islands, he said, “we have the economy that we have, and it’s because of her strength [and] her leadership for 70 years”.
“There’s some countries that don’t have great leaders and, as a result, they don’t have great economies because of political instability. So not only do I owe her love and appreciation but I owe her the future of my children, because today I live in a country where I can provide in a safe manner because of the things that she has done” he added.
Red Bay MP and former Premier Sir Alden McLaughlin was among the last members of the legal fraternity here to be conferred Queen’s Counsel – now know as King’s Counsel in the wake of her death, and the last to be bestowed with a knighthood during the Queen’s reign.
The former premier said he was “shaken” when news broke of the Queen’s death, likening it in closeness to the loss of his own parents, Althea and McNee McLaughlin, saying that he felt again “an orphan”.
McLaughlin pointed out that his father was born the same year as the late Queen.
“Someone that has been there all your life, a rock that you can lean on, a person on whom you can depend, is gone; for most of us, in fact, I believe for most of the world we don’t know of a time when Queen Elizabeth II was not sovereign and so that is going to take some getting used to, I have no doubt,” he said.
The late Queen, he said, had seen and experienced “tragedy, trauma, sorrow, loss, disappointment, embarrassment, none of which was caused by her, but she had steadfastly persevered, conducted herself impeccably”.
At the end of the special sitting lawmakers voted unanimously to have the recorded session of their contributions sent to King Charles III.
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