‘Like losing a mother’: Hackney councillors unite to remember a Queen who ‘defined modern Britain’

The Queen opening new facilities at Homerton Hospital in 2000

The Queen’s pledge to serve was recalled by Hackney councillors as they joined together in a moving tribute to the late monarch.

Like other councils across the UK, local politicians devoted most of their full council meeting to sharing their thoughts and memories after the Queen’s passing.

A portrait of Her Majesty was wreathed in black and councillors, also clad in black, stood for a minute’s silence at the start of the gathering to pay tribute.

Several councillors, including Susan Fajana-Thomas and Michael Desmond and Conservative Opposition leader Michael Levy, recalled the pledge the Queen made during a speech in 1947 in South Africa on her 21st birthday.

It was five years before she ascended the throne and she vowed to people in the UK and the Commonwealth: “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service.”

Cllr Fajana-Thomas, who met the Queen in 2012, said: “She kept those words.”

She added: “The Queen was an inspiration to me as a woman.”

Cllr Levy said: “The Queen touched in a meaningful way the lives of those she met.”

Cllr Simche Steinberger said it was hard to find the words to express the impact of the Queen’s death after 70 years in her role: “This feels like losing somebody, a mother who makes us feel very proud of our country.

“I don’t think this gap can be filled.”

Cllr Hershy Lisser shared a “wonderful incident that happened to my parents and myself”.

He said his father “was hovering between life and death” with a serious lung infection when there was a shortage of medicine in 1956 in Vienna, where he lived.

He explained: “We got to know that Her Majesty the Queen informed the British Embassy that anyone in need of urgent medicine would be granted immediate entry to the UK.”

He said his family was one of 10 that came to the country and his father was “healed by the medication”.

Later, his mother, who ran a Jewish store, was asked to supply food for the Chief Rabbi at a function at Buckingham Palace.

She did not cash the cheque and the Palace asked why not.

“My mother said this was in gratitude to her Majesty the Queen for letting us into Britain,” Cllr Lisser explained.

Cllr Lisser said he brought his children up “to admire our Queen, who should always be an example of kindness and strength for Britain”.

He said he became a councillor “in gratitude to Her Majesty”.

The Queen on a visit to St Joseph’s Hospice in 1984. Photograph: courtesy St Joseph’s

Hackney Mayor Philip Glanville said the Queen was “a modern royal, opening up the Royal Family to the country and world”.

He added: “She defined modern Britain, and cemented the second Elizabethan age as era-defining.

“She was a link between multiple generations – but as Britain changed, she evolved, she also remained a constant. This is even more true of Hackney.

“Our borough is very different, but just as special, as it was when she ascended the throne in 1952 or joined us to celebrate her Silver Jubilee in 1977.”

He said the Queen “was there to see Hackney grow, visiting Homerton Hospital, Stoke Newington, Geffrye Museum, Kingshold Estate, Perseverance Works in 1991 where her handbags were made, St Joseph’s Hospice and memorable visits during her Silver Jubilee”.

Other councillors referred to people with a dissenting views.

Cllr Polly Billington said the “Queen was a constant in all lives, whatever we thought of the institution she represented”.

She added: “She embodied things that are vital for a society to flourish: constancy in a times of change, connecting us with generations before; stability, which allows us as a country to weather the winds of change with less harm and brutality than others.”

She referred to Hackney’s history of dissent and institutions like the monarchy “protect such dissent, even when it challenges those institutions”.

She said the best tribute to the Queen “is to protect the right to protest against the institution of the monarchy even at this time of great mourning”.

Cllr Billington said the Queen embodied contradictions, allowing people to question institutions “that protect us from extremes, dictatorship and autocracy”.

Zoë Garbett for the Greens said the Queen witnessed many countries formerly under British rule transition away from the Commonwealth and the monarchy during her reign.

She said the Queen witnessed these changes “with grace”.

“It is particularly worthy of mention considering Britain’s difficult legacy in many of these former colonies,” she added.

Cllr Garbett said the Queen had years of dedicated service and “would not want us to forget or neglect our duty to those who are worried about not being able to heat their homes or feed their family this winter”.

She said at this time of national mourning, which can be triggering for many, “we hope that we can as a community be there for each other and heal together”.

She extended sympathy to the Queen’s family and friends and also to the family of Chris Kaba, who was fatally shot by police in London last week.

Cllr Guy Nicholson said he hoped King Charles III showed “the same dedication, the same commitment, the same hard work” as his mother.

The council united in sending condolences to the new king and their best wishes for his reign.