“My strength and stay“ – The Queen’s Tribute to Philip on her Golden Wedding Anniversary (1997)

On 20 November 1997, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary. The Queen and the Duke were joined by Prime Minister Tony Blair on a walkabout in Westminster, before attending a special “people’s banquet“ at Banqueting House. Tony Blair made the day’s opening speech with a touching tribute to the Queen and the Duke, though he also alarmed the Queen and courted enduring controversy by sharing her closing words from their most recent weekly audience. Blair spoke of the value of the Queen’s “down to earth“ advice, her lived example of duty and service, and how she and Philip had always worked to do the best by their own family - most recently by seeking to protect “the boys“ Prince William and Prince Harry in the aftermath of the death of Princess Diana. Following the prime minister’s speech, the Queen stood to make her own. Reflecting on how Britain and the world had changed since her marriage to Philip in 1947, the Queen paid tribute to the love and support that Philip had shown her during the 50 years of their extraordinary lives together. “He is someone who doesn’t take easily to compliments but he has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years, and I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know.“ Unfortunately, due to technical issues experienced by the camera crews on the day, there exists no complete recording of the day’s speeches. The audio recording failed towards the end of Tony Blair’s speech and was not recovered until 30 seconds after the Queen started speaking. For a complete copy of the Queen’s speech, follow the link below: #:~:text=On 20 November 1997 The,at Banqueting House in London. To license the footage featured in this clip, follow the link below: To search the ITN Archive collection on Getty Images, follow the link below: 🎥 Subscribe to our YouTube channel (tap the bell icon and stay up to date with all the latest ITN Archive videos!) - @ITNArchive 🎥 Follow us on Twitter - 🎥 Like us on Facebook - 🎥 Check out our TikTok - @itnarchive1955