the Queen at the Speaker's Dinner on Tuesday night at the Southampton Princess hotel.

Your Majesty, Your Royal Highness, Your Excellency, Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen.

It is a unique privilege and a great honour for me to have been able, on behalf of the people of Bermuda, to welcome Your Majesty and Your Royal Highness today. We have noticed that we are the last call in your present tour. It is natural for us to believe, Your Majesty, that you intentionally saved the best for last.

When Your Majesty's grandfather, who later became King George V, visited here in the latter part of the last century, he did so as an officer of the Royal Navy.

Bermuda, at that time, was known as the Gibraltar of the West, the lynchpin of the Royal Navy's control of the Atlantic.

Soon, we must say farewell to the company of your Majesty's ship, Malabar.

When they leave, two centuries of continuous Royal Naval presence on this Island will be broken.

Your Majesty will be aware that we soon must also say farewell to the Armed Forces of the United States, who have been here since the Second World War, and that the Canadian Forces, who have been here since the 1960s, have also withdrawn.

The last words of the long, proud story of the Gibraltar of the West will soon be written.

It is sad to see such things die.

But, if I may take some liberty with the words of the Book of Job: "Man is born unto change, as the sparks fly upward.'' The changes that have taken place in the world so quickly are as much a time of birth as they are a time of death. We must rejoice that the dangers of the Cold War are coming to an end, and that peace may yet have its day.

Many of the world's smaller countries have only small parts to play in the drama of the last century. Now, they are struggling to understand the significance of the changes that are taking place, and to find roles to play in the new world order which is now emerging.

We in Bermuda are among them.

But for us, this is not a time to grieve for what has gone before. It is a time to embrace the birth of the new and to meet its challenges. It is a time to dream new dreams, to search for new ideas, to plan for the new and to do what we must to make it a reality.

We are known as a prosperous and fortunate people. We do not suffer the ills that beset so many in this world. There is no famine here, no pestilence, no war.

Our destiny was once determined, in part, by our position as the Gibraltar of the West. Now, we must face taking the responsibility for our future by ourselves. I believe we are equal to the task.

I believe we have three characteristics which will stand us in good stead.

First, we are what the Scots would call canny people. We are quick to see opportunity, and quick to take advantage of it.

We are a charitable and caring people. We take great pains to care for the needs of our people and our country. And we also do what we can for those in the world who are less fortunate than ourselves.

Third, and perhaps most important, we have the great gifts you, as head of the Commonwealth, have given us. We have what our long relationship with Great Britain has made a part of us: a respect for law and justice, a respect for the institutions of parliamentary democracy and a respect for the rights of the individual.

Those great traditions have shaped us, and have shaped the culture of this Island. That process will continue.

Our qualities give us the strength to try, they give us the strength to persevere and they will give us the strength to succeed in forging the new Bermuda.

As in other countries, we in Bermuda have our differences. But here, more than in many countries, we understand that still greater strength lies in being able to solve our problems with care and with respect for one another.

No matter what our differences, it is our common dream, in Bermuda, to build upon our strengths to create an educated, caring and harmonious society to which other countries can point as a model of what can be achieved. I see that, above all things, as Bermuda's role in the world of the 21st Century.

During your visit in 1975, Your Majesty encouraged us to make Bermuda the "brave new world'' which William Shakespeare described in The Tempest.

Throughout this visit, you will see evidence of how much we took your message to heart. It is our heartfelt hope that when Your Majesty visits us again, the evidence of our further success will be ever clearer.

May God richly bless Your Majesty and Your Royal Highness.