The ceremony at Westminster Abbey was attended by The Queen.

12 October 2021

No one can know what another person has experienced because the only perspective we have is the one we experience through our own lens. This hit me today at the beautiful and emotionally moving Royal British Legion (RBL) Centenary Service that was attended by Her Majesty The Queen, Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal and other invited guests.

As I sat in the nave of the abbey waiting for the service to start, the huge TV screens showed pictures that included a picture of the recreation of the moment when The Royal British Legion was founded on 15 May 1921 at the Cenotaph in the aftermath of the First World War [click here to read about my role in that event]. I expected it to be a memorable event but, this morning, as people trickled into the abbey, the band played and music filled the vaulted ceiling I sat in silent gratefulness that I had been included in the memorable event.

Amongst the rousing hymns Naomi Hall, a former Senior Aircraftwoman in the RAF, gave a testimony about the help she received from the RBL following trauma from Afghanistan and a subsequent car accident. The Princess Royal read from the book of Matthew about the importance of service and kindness to our brethren and I kept thinking that, although she is our Monarch, the Queen is now a widow who stood there with her daughter instead of her husband.

The Address by the Dean of Westminster mentioned a story of a widow who met with the him to organise her late husband’s funeral. She spoke about him as a “good man”, but said that he had not done anything special. The Dean subsequently discovered that the late husband had in fact been at the horrific battle of Monte Cassino in the Second World War.

As the National President of the RBL, Lieutenant General James Bashall, said the Act of Rededication, my mind focused on the RBL’s pledge of “service note self” and I remembered the opening of the General Messenger Resilience Centre in Lympstone and General Messenger’s message to the Kings Squad pass-out parade of the importance of “understated excellence”.

I would love to say that the service gave me a lightening bolt of inspiration and some wonderful words of wisdom but the reality is that my mind was blank. I had no capacity for thought, instead I soaked up the awe of being in a place of such importance. Sat on the train a few hours later I realised the importance of the fact that none of us knows each other’s full story. We may have heard pieces about people’s experiences, but no one fully knows everything about another person.

What we do know is that compassion increases wellbeing and helps to overcome loneliness and isolation. In our busy lives it is all too easy to forget the importance of showing kindness in our words and actions to others. Today I remembered those who made the ultimate sacrifice, as well as the loved ones they left behind and those whose lives have been disrupted by service to the Monarch and our Nation.

In the words of Saint Paul (Romans 12:9-11):
“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit.”