As Secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Gibraltar I was on The Rock last week for the annual National Day which was to have taken place last Saturday. So I was there when the appalling news that The Queen had died was announced. Like eveyone else it shocked me to the core. I had seen Her Majesty oversee the exchange of prime ministers on television and yet she was taken from us 24 hours later. What courage. She must have been very ill when she saw the prime ministers but did her duty to the end.
In Gibraltar I therefore attended the firing of a 96 gun salute to Her Majesty in the Naval Dockyard. I also signed the Book of Condolence in The Convent which is the Governor's Residence before I was able to get back to the United Kingdom on Saturday night. I remain in disbelief that our Queen is no more. God bless her and God Save the King.