Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale, former First Minister Jack McConnell, has paid his own tribute to HM The Queen.
The former Stirling District Council leader had spoken warmly of her to his colleagues in the House of Lords last week, recalling one of his favourite stories about her much noted wit and sense and humour.
This week he told the Observer: “As First Minister I saw at first hand the love that the Queen had for Scotland and her commitment to public service.
“Hers was a life of duty, conducted with good humour and relentless hard work. She was a special example to us all.
“I will always remember those memorable moments I was privileged to share, from the openings of Parliament to private discussions.
“Her passing is a huge loss to the whole UK and the Commonwealth, but she has prepared King Charles III for this moment, and he has already shown he will maintain her values and example.”
Following news of her death he spoke in the Lords, saying: “Very few of us will be lucky enough to pass away in the place that we love the most, but, after such a life of service, our Queen deservedly pass away in a place that she loved perhaps more than any other. That must have brought her, her family and her staff incredible solace.”
Lord McConnell spoke of his own “incredible privilege” of being able to enjoy her Balmoral barbecues.
“She would pretend to race with her staff up through the hills to the cottage where the barbecues took place. She was jokingly racing - she would always say to me that she knew that they were never going to try to pass her, but she had to pretend to be part of the race anyway and get there first.
“She would roll up her sleeves and help set the fire, set the table and clear up afterwards. It was somewhere where she really felt at home.
“As First Minister, I enjoyed those moments more than I ever expected to. My nerves went after the first year and, as the years went by, we enjoyed sharing stories and experiences.
“I recall in particular when the Queen told a story about two American tourists, who had been on a bus trip and had wandered round the back of Balmoral to the rose garden, where she was tending the roses with her headscarf and sunglasses on.
“Of course, they did not recognise her.
“They broke into conversation: they asked her what it was like to work for the Queen and whether the Queen ever tended the roses herself. She played along with it for five minutes or so, and they were very grateful for the opportunity to hear so much about the life of the Queen from one of her staff.
“They went back round to the bus to leave Balmoral, and she very quickly nipped into the kitchen, took her headscarf and sunglasses off, went out the front door and waved goodbye to the bus - only to see these two American tourists looking out the window, nudging everybody and saying that they had just spoken to her in the garden.
“That great sense of humour and fun was remarkable, and it was a privilege to have seen it up close.”
He also spoke of a text he had recently received from Maganga Secondary School in Salima, in rural Malawi - a school where none of the girls had ever visited a big city or seen a television, which he had been visiting just a week before.
“The head teacher sent me a text this morning which reads: ‘On behalf of Maganga School, staff and students, I would like to sincerely express our sadness upon hearing about the death of the Queen, Queen Elizabeth II. As a school, we are very sorry for that great loss. She was our Queen, and a great personality to us all. May the good Lord be with the bereaved family.’
“That is the mark of the impact that she had around the world, not just for leaders, not just for history, but right now, today, in some of the poorest villages in Malawi and elsewhere.
“Finally, I want to recall her kindness to my family and my staff, and her commitment to her own family - remember, she was a mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother, and her family will be grieving desperately.
“I thank her for her support, and know that she would want us to give full support to King Charles III; I thank her for her service; I thank her personally for those treasured moments that I have.
“We are poorer for her passing, but we are richer and stronger for her life.”
