Royal Obligations - Reflections on Royalty and Obligation after Queen Elizabeth II’s Death

Address – Memorial Tea

Canada has been blessed with an astounding 22 visits from her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, in fact, more than with any other Commonwealth country or any country other than the British Isles. And in addition to this, we have been graced with still more visits from other members of the Royal Family. Lloydminster, as we have heard, had the incredible privilege of a Royal visit back in 1978, incredible, I would think, for a community of this size. And yet, this pales when compared to time in many communities in the old country, Windsor or Balmoral, for instance. They would have known her, not just their Queen, but also as their neighbour.

But even this is nothing in comparison with my own family’s long association with the British Royal Family. The earliest connection harkens all the way back to the mid 1300s when a family member served in Parliament, a much smaller and more intimate one than at present, under King Edward III.

Then, another member of our family, George Stonhouse, served as Clerk of the Green Cloth during the reigns of both Mary Tudor (Bloody Mary) and Elizabeth I. He was responsible for organizing the royal progresses, the state visits throughout the realm for those two monarchs. It is quite possible, given the heavy responsibility of such intimate and detailed planning entailed in this job that he actually lived in the royal palaces at some point. (Interestingly, what was once our family estate southwest of Oxford was bought from Princess Elizabeth nine years before she ascended to the throne as Elizabeth I.)

Another Stonhouse, another George in fact, had what was probably an even closer association with the monarch, serving both as Member of Parliament and as Gentleman of the Bedchamber to Charles I. In that latter role, he was responsible for safeguarding the royal person and controlling access to him. In fact, such was his loyalty to the king, Charles I, that this ancestor almost lost his life in consequence of it. Instead, he was barred from Parliament and fined 1640 pounds by Oliver Cromwell. It was this same Charles that granted us our first Baronetcy, the second one coming from his son, Charles II.

Another ancestor, Sir John Stonhouse, was the controller of the household of yet another monarch, Queen Anne, and as such, actually lived close to the queen in Kensington Palace.

And another Stonhouse, the Rev. Dr. Sir James Stonhouse (see his portrait over there), in addition to helping found Northampton Infirmary (now Northampton General Hospital), was personal physician to the Prince of Wales, Frederick Louis, the eldest son of King George II. (This Prince of Wales, however, died somewhat early in life, and so never became King. Instead, his brother succeeded him as King George III.)

But, as if might well be imagined, all was not necessarily sweetness and light in our association with the royals. Back many generations ago, a certain unmentioned king fathered an illegitimate child, who, as it happens, also shows up in our lineage.

And, in between the reigns of Elizabeth I and Charles I, another certain Stonhouse, Sir William, was arrested and tried, along with Sir Walter Raleigh and Lord Cobden, for plotting to murder the king, James I, and replace him with a Catholic, in the Main Plot of 1603. Fortunately, he was pardoned by the king, or else our illustrious family lineage would have ended there and then.

So, what can be said about all this? From our earliest years a certain notion was drummed into the heads of my brother and myself, the idea of noblesse oblige, ‘nobility obliges’. It was the idea, not that we were entitled to anything, but that we had an obligation, a responsibility, to use whatever privilege or ability or education we had for the wider good, for the common good. Thus, it is no small wonder that our family boasts countless Members of Parliament, members of the military, lawyers and clergy or that my brother is a lawyer and my three sons a lawyer, a teacher and artist, and an Anglican priest. Public service runs in our family; it was part of our DNA. That sense of obligation, that sense of responsibility to society and to the world, is perhaps what links me to our late Queen, even more than our past associations, for I believe that this same notion was also part of her DNA, part of what and who she was. I happen to think this notion is one that all of us should adopt and imitate.