The West Herts and Watford Observer has already received many tributes to the late King and sympathy with his bereaved family, together with the following poem from a Watford resident, which we feel will eloquently express the sentiment of our readers towards the young Queen, wife and mother on whom the mantle of monarchy, with all its grave responsibility, so suddenly descends.

The King is dead. Our Nation mourns

The passing of a Sovereign Great;

Long Live the Queen, whose youth adorns,

The Office of her high estate.

 

O, Grant her health and strength to bear

The duties of her destined task

And may her Consort nobly share

Her royal burdens, Lord we ask.

 

God Bless our Queen! Long may she reign

Through years where worldly quarrels cease,

Where faith and trust are born again,

And every nation honours peace.

 

Long Live Our Queen!

(Victoria Picton)

[From the Watford Observer of February 8, 1952]