‘Honour and glory’: Queen’s moving tribute to Royal Australian Air Force
The Queen shared a joke during her first official royal engagement this year – a service to honour the Royal Australian Air Force.
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The Queen shared a joke about “chasing the Russians” during a service to honour the Royal Australian Air Force.
The 94-year-old was in a good mood as she spoke with airmen and airwomen as part of the 100th anniversary celebrations for the RAAF on Wednesday night Australian time.
A wreath was laid on the Queen’s behalf during a short service, where prayers were said for those more than 12,000 RAAF members killed in conflicts.
The Queen was then introduced to several RAAF airmen and airwomen.
And she shared a lighthearted moment when she spoke with Squadron Leader Matthew Sander about his job as a fighter controller working with Typhoon jets.
The Queen asked if the Typhoon jets, which are Britain’s first responders to protect UK airspace, had been “sent off to chase the Russians”.
Squadron Leader Sander replied: “That’s correct, ma’am, it’s a lot of fun for us!”
The Queen also spoke with Squadron Leader Sarah-Jane Leech, who was beaming as they discussed her work.
Squadron Leader Leech said with a grin, “I’ll tell you later, ma’am” when asked a separate lighthearted question.
The service was the Queen’s first public engagement for 2021, as she has been kept in a COVID-19 bubble at Windsor Castle.
The visit to the Air Forces Memorial retraced her steps to 1953, when she opened the site in the year after she became Queen.
She paid tribute to the “efficiency, skill, and sacrifice” of the Royal Australian Air Force On its 100th anniversary.
In Her Majesty’s first public engagement of 2021, she visited the Air Forces Memorial in Runnymede, near Windsor, England, on Wednesday night Australian time.
A service was scheduled for the memorial building, which was first opened by the Queen in 1953, a year after she ascended to the throne.
In a statement, the Queen said: “Throughout my reign, the Royal Australian Air Force has shown immense dedication to duty and has defended our freedom in many conflicts around the world.
“On this notable Anniversary, May the honour and glory bestowed upon the Royal Australian Air Force by all ranks guide it’s future guardianship of the skies.”
The Queen also noted the RAAF’s Latin motto Per Ardua Ad Astra, which means “Through Struggle to the Stars.”
Australia’s High Commissioner to the UK, George Brandis, and Claire Horton, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission director general, were also due to attend.
A wreath was to be laid on behalf of the Queen at the small, socially distanced service.
And the Queen was expected to walk past a wall bearing the names of 1383 Australians who died fighting with the RAAF in Europe in World War Two.
The Runnymede memorial was built to honour 20,000 airmen and airwomen with no known grave, many of whom died behind enemy lines.
Mr Brandis was expected to say during a speech at the service that Australia and Britain’s air forces continued to have strong links.
“In all of the missions we have undertaken together, and in the sacrifices we have shared, we have always acted to protect our peoples and, by deterring aggression, to create a more peaceful and secure world,” he was due to say.
“As Your Majesty observed when you opened this Memorial in 1953, it is particularly appropriate that it should be located at Runnymede, the storeyed place to which we trace the ancient democratic liberties of both of our nations. It was for the defence of those liberties that the 20,000 brave airmen memorialised on these walls – but who have no known grave – made the ultimate sacrifice.”
The Queen has always taken a close interest in their work.
Her father King George VI was a trained pilot who qualified in 1919.
The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and Prince William also followed in the family footsteps and got their “wings”.
The Queen has previously spoken of her admiration for those in Britain’s Royal Air Force, the forerunner to the RAAF.
“I remember the Battle of Britain being fought in the skies above us, and we shall never forget the courage and sacrifice of that time,” she said in 2018.
And in the same speech she highlighted the RAAF’s motto – Per Ardua Ad Astra – or “
The Queen has been performing duties remotely during the pandemic, including a video call with the South Australian Premier Steven Marshall last month.
The significance of the RAAF occasion was underscored by her presence in person.
Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh, 99, have had a coronavirus vaccine but precautions were due to be in place for the service.
Prince Philip was released from hospital this month following a heart problem that kept him under care for 28 days.
He turns 100 on June 10, while the Queen will turn 95 on April 21.
The traditional Trooping of the Colour has been cancelled for a second year because of the pandemic.
However, a successful vaccine program in the UK has seen a third wave averted, with Britain due to be free of restrictions in June.
stephen.drill@news.co.uk
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