I had the privilege to know Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for the last five decades of her remarkable 70 year reign as our Monarch. During that time, myself and colleagues were honoured to welcome her on many occasions when she celebrated projects for which we had been commissioned and, on a more personal level, my greatest honour was, in 1997, to be appointed to the Order of Merit – an award which is in the sole gift of the Sovereign. 

These various privileges granted me an insight to a lady whose leadership, loyalty and regal humility were faultless, throughout her life and her reign, and endured to the end. With today’s sad news, myself, my family and my colleagues share in the grief that is felt across the nation, the Commonwealth and the wider world. 

– Lord Foster of Thames Bank OM