Roots that run deep

There’s a lovely Greek proverb that goes something like this: “A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.”

The proverb speaks to public service, to actions that benefit others, not oneself.

It speaks too to things that transcend time, that are bigger than oneself, that evolve and grow yet remain constant despite changes in society over the passage of decades.

When they were last in Gibraltar in 2012, Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, and his wife Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, planted an oak tree in the gardens of The Convent, the Governor’s official residence.

When they return to the Rock next week on the occasion of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, the Royal couple will have a chance to see how their sapling is doing.

It’s not providing shade yet but it’s doing well, the Governor, Vice Admiral Sir David Steel, told me recently.

“I've been watering the thing for weeks,” he joked when I asked, adding: “It’s growing perfectly.”

Shade or otherwise, for the prince and Sophie, the tree’s progress will resonate, Sir David said during our chat.

“He very rarely gets to see something that was put in the ground a decade ago,” the Governor told me.

“And I think he'll get some degree of satisfaction knowing that it hasn't died and that it is flourishing.”

As we celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in the coming days, it is worth pausing to reflect on the values that have underpinned her remarkable life and which, like the Greek proverb, have an eye on something that runs deeper than short-term pomp and ceremony.

I’m no royalist and I understand the valid questions about the role of the monarchy in a modern, democratic and meritocratic society, though I have no answers.

I understand too the darker aspects of Britain’s colonial legacy, which became evident earlier this year as members of the Royal family toured other overseas territories and faced uncomfortable but understandable questions about slavery, colonialism and the need for reparation.

The history of empire is often one of violence, subjugation and pillage.

But I believe too that the Queen, through her life, her always measured words, her actions, embodies something intangible that represents the foundations on which our Britishness is built, even if that positive idea of being British is often at odds with history.

We often talk about our unshakeable bond to Britain. But what do we mean when we say that?

To me, it goes beyond a simple defensive mechanism in the face of age-old Spanish pressure.

When I think of what it means to be British, I don’t think of Boris Johnson and the political chaos and disarray of his government and Westminster politics over the past six years, the endless scandals, the pointless madness that is Brexit and the damage it risks doing to this community and to the UK.

I see instead the image of the Queen alone at the funeral of her husband Prince Philip, abiding by Covid-19 guidelines without the comfort and warmth of a shoulder to lean on, even while those who designed the rules sipped wine in No.10 Downing Street.

To me, what is happening politically in the UK now is anathema to everything it means to be British.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I’ve always thought of Britain as conservative with a small c, whatever side of the political spectrum you’re on.

To me, being British means to embrace change and innovation, but also to look after people and care for physical and societal heritage, not to break things but to always keep an eye on the bigger picture and on strands that run through time.

At its core are values such as courage, discipline, selfless commitment and respect for others.

These aren’t just words. They are the foundations on which British society is built, not just in the UK but here too, evident in our institutions, our legal and justice system, our education, our constitution.

As Gibraltarians, we of course bring our own unique flavour to that, drawing on roots that stretch across the Mediterranean and the Commonwealth. We’re British and we’re Mediterranean, but we’re not English, and we’re certainly not the jingoism encapsulated in that horrific shorthand-phrase ‘Britain in the Sun’ so often used to caricature us.

But in the Queen, a 96-year-old woman who has served her country for 70 years, we can all find inspiration, whatever we might think of the UK right now and of the monarchy as a whole.

The Queen is sometimes described as “the nation’s granny”, una abuela we have all grown up with. It’s easy to forget she’s a real granny too, a person, and that her life, for all its privileges, has been one of sacrifice to public service.

Writing in The Sunday Times last weekend, Gabriella Peralta, the Chronicle’s Features Editor, reflected on how the Queen’s only visit to Gibraltar, in 1954, is seared in the memory of many people here.

Politics means she hasn’t been back since then, but on this, her Platinum Jubilee, she is despatching her youngest son to the Rock, a prince who since his father’s death has stepped up to a more prominent role at his mother’s side.

In 1954, when the young Queen Elizabeth visited Gibraltar, the Rock had been British for 250 years.

She too planted a tree, and although that one sadly appears to have died, it is the act of planting that matters more than the shade decades later.

But that visit also planted a fresh seed of loyalty at a time when modern Gibraltarian society was beginning to manifest its own identity, clawing at the right to decide and determine its own future.

Those roots have flourished under the British umbrella into a relationship in which Gibraltar, an overseas territory, today enjoys a unique degree of self-government underpinned by a mature and close partnership with the United Kingdom.

That partnership is evident in many spheres, not least the way the UK stood by Gibraltar during the Covid-19 pandemic and, despite the mayhem of Brexit, is working with Gibraltar to hopefully carve out a new relationship with the EU. It was clear too on the international stage during the Grace 1 incident and in Gibraltar’s response to the Russian sanctions.

In celebrating the Platinum Jubilee and the Royal visit, Gibraltar will undoubtedly express its continued collective loyalty to Queen Elizabeth and the Crown.

And as we shape our post-Brexit future in troubled times, it is a loyalty that does, and should always, cut both ways.