It's a sad privilege but a very appropriate privilege that we are meeting today on such an occasion to commemorate the Earl of Merioneth and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. We have had opportunities, many of us, to meet him on formal and informal occasions. And in a state such as the United Kingdom, which is structured as a social democracy but also has a monarch as head of state, we need intelligent people to be undertaking those roles. And from my experience of the Duke, he was intelligent, enthusiastic and unending in his questioning. I little thought, as a primary school pupil, the first time I saw him, that I would often meet him later in my career. I well remember the event; the royal train was travelling slowly through the Conwy valley, so that he had an opportunity to greet the primary pupils who were standing on one side of the track. And that willingness to relate to people was characteristic of his career.

But I want to say a few words about his unique interest in matters of faith. Of course, he married the head of the British state and, as the church in England is not yet disestablished, then he had to be an Anglican in the Church of England. But I will never forget the questions that he asked me after a service that we held in the church of St Mary in the bay after one of our official openings of the National Assembly, as it was then, and, as some of you who are familiar with Cardiff Bay will know, this particular church, which is part of the Church in Wales now, of course, is located next to the Greek Orthodox church, and we had tried to arrange in that service to reflect all faith communities and all of the languages spoken within those communities in Wales in order to demonstrate that there is a strong tradition of collaboration between the faith communities that had existed in Wales for many years, but particularly following devolution. So, there was a psalm sung in Hebrew, the Greek scriptures were read, and, of course, Welsh and English were used equally in that service. And at the end of the service, he came to me and looked me in the eye—as he did with everyone he spoke to—and asked in English: