Long to reign over you

She saved the best bit to the end. Today was big speech day for the Queen, one of the rare occasions when she addresses both Houses of Parliament at once. She has only done it on four occasions during her 50 years on the throne, and on one of those - the Silver Jubilee - she managed to cause a bit of a fuss when she emphasised her coronation oath as Queen of the United Kingdom. Not everyone in Scotland or Wales appreciated that.

There was no doubt, then, that when the Queen and Prince Philip arrived at Westminster Hall, the same hall where the Queen Mother lay in state three weeks ago, all those MPs and members of the House of Lords were on the edge of their seats with anticipation.

Would she be dropping any bombshells? Would she upset the nationalists? Or would it all be one great anti-climax?

To find out, they were going to have to wait until the very last sentence of the Queen's speech.

Say what you like about the Queen, she's an old pro: she knows how to keep the audience waiting.

Whatever was going to happen, it was a big day out. Cherie Blair, looking somewhat uneasy as she sat next to Iain Duncan Smith, wore a big hat. Pauline Prescott wore an even bigger hat.

Before they could get to the important bit there was the usual ceremonial to sit through. Trumpeters sounded their fanfares, and the Maces of the Lord Chancellor and the Speaker of the House of Commons were covered up to symbolise that they no longer had any authority while the Queen was in the hall. Either that, or they were a bit worried about Michael Heseltine.

Then there were the speeches, in which Lord Irvine and Michael Martin competed to say how fabulous and important the Queen was. The Lord Chancellor gave thanks for her "50 years of dedicated public service" and talked about all the momentous changes that have happened during her reign, from the four-minute mile to the conquest of space, not to mention the elimination of polio and the invention of the internet.

To hear him talk one might have gone away with the impression that the Queen was responsible for all those great innovations.

Lord Irvine even tried a bit of light-hearted banter. One could not blame him, as the Queen had been sitting through all his obsequiousness-with rather a bored expression on her face, as if to say, "Yes, yes, internet, Berlin Wall, Cold War, get on with it".

But then again, that is her normal expression during most speeches, so it was hard to tell.

Admitting he was not much of a horseman, the Lord Chancellor said: "We wish Your Majesty every success on the turf in your Jubilee year."

Maybe it was a trick of the light. Maybe it was just a muscular twitch. But for a moment it seemed as if the Queen gave the hint of a glimmer of a ghost of a smile. Then Michael Martin was on his feet. "Profound gratitude... unstinting praise... distinguished reign..." The Queen looked bored again.

At the end of their speeches, both the Lord Chancellor and the Speaker gave her bound copies of their perorations, so she can read them again before she goes to bed tonight, for the good bits.

Finally it was her turn. In fitting with the conventions of these occasions, she started off by being nice about her audience in the same way that they had been nice to her.

And, just like the two Speakers before her, she gave a quick rundown of the changes that have taken place over the last 50 years (don't these people ever talk about their speeches beforehand?)

She spoke about traditional values, she spoke about service. "We are a moderate, pragmatic people, more comfortable with practice than theory," she said. Tam Dalyell rubbed his face thoughtfully.

Finally she got to the end. "These enduring British traditons and values - moderation, openness, tolerance and service - had stood the test of time, and I am convinced they will stand us in good stead in the future," she said.

Then came the bit that everyone was waiting for. "I would like above all to declare my resolve to continue, with the support of my family, to serve the people of this great nation of ours to the best of my ability through the changing times ahead."

That was it. The Queen sat down, everyone clapped, and the commentators and soothsayers and politicians rushed away - metaphorically speaking, of course, as no-one leaves before the Queen - to ponder what it all meant.

Is she right to stay on?