Remembering our Patron: HM The Queen and Chatham House

Sir Robin Niblett, director of Chatham House from 2007 to 2022, says: ‘Every institution that was fortunate enough to enjoy HM The Queen’s patronage and engagement now mourns her passing, and that includes the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House. She was an inspiration.

‘Chatham House members and its members of staff who were fortunate enough to meet her will treasure and draw continued inspiration from the memory.’

Beginnings of a lifetime’s service

Chatham House celebrated the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on 7 July 1953 with a garden party attended by its founders and presidents, as well as their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and several high commissioners from the Commonwealth and members of the diplomatic corps.

The 1953 edition of the institute’s academic journal International Affairs also contained two special articles offering an analysis of the coronation. Author GM Gathorne-Hardy discussed the durability and strength of the monarchy and praised the influence of the royal family within public life. Historian Nicholas Mansergh surveyed deep changes within ‘the colonies’ and acknowledged the concept of self-government was now accepted while underlining the flexibility of the Commonwealth.

When the young Queen Elizabeth II delivered a major speech to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 21 October 1957, she offered a message of hope that the UN would stand up to its high ideals for the betterment of humanity, noting that working together had strengthened the bonds of Commonwealth countries, suggested this existing foundation of international cooperation would be what the UN would come to rely on.

The 1960s were a time of great change for Britain and the Commonwealth as many countries gained their independence and numerous international royal engagements deepened political and economic ties and ensured good relationships with former colonies and other allies.

In London, the institute’s council decided Chatham House should give priority to the study of new issues that were relevant to British foreign policy, such as promoting a better understanding of independence movements and their implications for the Commonwealth.

In 1970, when the institute celebrated its 50th anniversary with a banquet at the Mansion House, HM The Queen sent a message of good wishes to guests – including UK prime minister Edward Heath – which was read out by the Chatham House chair Lord Trevelyan. As part of her Silver Jubilee in 1977, the Queen contemplated Britain’s position in the world in an address to the UK parliament, speaking of the ‘tolerance and understanding’ necessary for the Commonwealth to evolve into an association of 36 independent nations.

Royal visits to Chatham House

On 10 December 1980 Queen Elizabeth II became the first reigning monarch to visit Chatham House, when she opened the newly refurbished conference hall named after Sir John Power, a founding member of the institute.

More than 400 members and friends of the institute had contributed to the Diamond Jubilee appeal to make the refurbishment possible, enabling Chatham House to remain a leading place in central London for discussion with international leaders.

Five years later, HRH Princess Anne addressed an audience in the same hall on the work of the Save the Children Fund of which she was president.

The 1980s saw international attention increasingly focused on developments in Moscow and the responses. The institute was criticized for cultivating relations with the Soviet Union’s reformers, before what came to be known as ‘perestroika’ was internationally recognized as a seminal development.

During 1989–90, both President Mikhail Gorbachev and President Vaclav Havel were among the speakers at Chatham House events, and the Queen observed in her Christmas broadcast to the Commonwealth that people in both Eastern and Western Europe had begun to think about their future relations in a less unfriendly way, more as neighbours.

But as tensions in the Gulf grew, despite the end of the Iran–Iraq war, the Queen became the first British monarch to address a joint session of the United States Congress on 16 May 1991 in the wake of Operation Desert Storm.

She focused on the importance of the transatlantic relationship and concluded that ‘force, in the end, is sterile. We have gone a better way: our societies rest on mutual agreement, on contract, and on consensus’.

On 23 February 1995, staff at the institute were delighted to welcome the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to Chatham House to inaugurate the celebrations for its 75th anniversary.

Institute experts briefed the Queen ahead of her imminent state visit to South Africa, incorporating responses to specific questions posed by Her Majesty in advance. The Chatham House annual report that year noted both the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh expressed satisfaction at the wide range of interests and backgrounds represented by its staff and members.

Bronwen Maddox, who became director of Chatham House in August 2022, says: ‘Chatham House has benefitted enormously from the patronage of HM The Queen throughout her time as monarch.

‘As its Patron, she was the ultimate, invaluable guarantor of the institute’s independence and an inspiration to our work.’

The institute played a part in the history-making reciprocal state visits of the Queen and Nelson Mandela, the newly-elected president of South Africa. During her visit to South Africa in 1995, the Queen paid tribute to Mandela’s spirit of reconciliation and freedom. Mandela visited the UK the following year and spoke at a conference jointly organized by Chatham House, the Confederation of British Industry, and the Department of Trade and Industry.

The institute’s 75th anniversary was also marked by a conference whose theme was ‘Britain in the World’. At the conference, His Majesty King Charles III, then HRH The Prince of Wales spoke about the importance of dealing with ‘new agenda issues – international problems that know no national frontiers, such as the environment, AIDS, drugs, terrorism, economic development, and the important debate over the globalization of free trade’. As a result of the conference, two projects were instigated – a forum on the UK’s economic and social future, and a project on the UK’s foreign policy in the post-Cold War era.

In 2014, HM The Queen returned to Chatham House to mark the establishment of the Queen Elizabeth II Academy for International Affairs – a new initiative whereby the institute hosts and supports through skills development and integration into Chatham House networks – a small cohort of talented individuals each year from across the world committed to driving change in their countries and regions.

On the same visit, she removed a brick from the rear wall between Chatham House and the adjoining Ames House, whose ground floor the institute had purchased earlier that year for our new SNF Wing. In 2017, the Duke of Sussex came to Chatham House on behalf of his grandmother to inaugurate its opening.

Throughout the institute’s history, it has drawn inspiration not only from the personal engagement of HM The Queen as our patron, but also from the sense of purpose she gave to the institute’s mission.

As HM The Queen said in her address to the United Nations on 6 July 2010, ‘it is my hope that, when judged by future generations, our sincerity, our willingness to take a lead, and our determination to do the right thing will stand the test of time’.

Chatham House will continue to be inspired by her vision.