There are long periods when life seems a small, dull round, a petty business with no point, and then suddenly we are caught up in some great event which gives us a glimpse of the solid and durable foundations of our existence.

I have to be seen to be believed.

1992 is not a year I shall look back on with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it hasturned out to be an Annus Horribilis.

I have behind me not only the splendid traditions and the annals of more than a thousand years but the living strength and majesty of the Commonwealth and Empire; of societies old and new; of lands and races different in history and origins but all, by God's Will, united in spirit and in aim.

It is as queen of Canada that I am here. Queen of Canada and all Canadians, not just one or two ancestral strains.

It has been women who have breathed gentleness and care into the hard progress of humankind.

True patriotism doesn't exclude an understanding of the patriotism of others.