David Miliband remembers ‘dignified, not stuffy’ Queen and how his wife and Condoleezza Rice serenaded her

Former British foreign secretary – who now leads International Rescue Committee – also spoke about need for humanitarian and climate movements to work together to help world’s most vulnerable

Former UK foreign secretary David Miliband has shared personal memories of Queen Elizabeth II as Britain’s longest-reigning monarch was laid to rest on Monday.

Mr Miliband, who has been based in New York for the past decade as executive director of the International Rescue Committee, one of the world’s leading humanitarian organisations, described the late Queen as “always dignified but not stuffy”.

He recalled his interactions with the late monarch during an interview with The Independent on Monday as he took part in the opening ceremony of New York Climate Week. The global event gathers business, government, and climate leaders in conjunction with the United Nations General Assembly which is also taking place in Manhattan this week.

Mr Miliband said that the climate and humanitarian movements need to be better at working together to help the world’s most vulnerable people who are increasingly on the frontlines of climate-driven disasters.

“We've been too siloed which is really damaging because they're two great movements, but also because they interact with each other,” he said.

“The climate crisis is not just a threat to the planet, it is a threat to the people of the planet. And it's a threat to the poorest people, those often who've done the least to contribute to the climate crisis and have the weakest infrastructure to withstand it.”

Mr Miliband was Labour MP for South Shields, and served as Foreign Secretary from 2007 until 2010 under Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

During that time, his wife Louise Shackelton, a violinist with the London Symphony Orchestra, played for the Queen alongside former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, who is an accomplished pianist.

“When Condoleezza Rice finished being Secretary of State we thought it was appropriate to recognize her engagement with the UK. We had the idea that she should play piano with Louise at Buckingham Palace,” Mr Miliband told The Independent.

“Of course, the protocol barons got into a terrible state but [the Queen] said yes. So there was a concert where Louise, two members of the LSO and Condoleeza Rice played for the Queen, four other people, and four corgis who were marching around her feet.”

He continued: “What I try to explain in America is that the consistency of respect for the Queen is the way that political division is limited which is, in my eyes, not the way that political division is subsumed.”

Mr Miliband also recalled another instance when the Queen was on hand to cut through finicky protocol when he accompanied her on a state visit to Latvia and Lithuania.

“I had to go on to Japan for the G8 meeting and we had a great to-do about whether or not it was appropriate for my wife to [fly] back with the Royal party or to go on EasyJet. In the end, it got sort of punted up to the Queen and she said, ‘Of course, she’s on the team.’”

Some 2,000 mourners including US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden attended the Queen’s funeral service at Westminster Abbey on Monday, where the late monarch was praised her for “abundant life and loving service”. The state funeral was the first of its kind since Winston Churchill received the honour in 1965.

“I thought the funeral was very much in character because the Queen was not someone for verbal superlatives and today, I thought the music was very striking. Something I had read said that the Queen was always dignified but not stuffy and that was very much my experience,” Mr Miliband said.

Queen Elizabeth had personally selected the hymns and classical music to have played at her funeral. They included a favorite hymn, “The Lord’s my Shepherd, I’ll not Want”, and “Like as the Hart”, composed specially by the living British composer, and Master of the King’s Music, Judith Weir.

At the end of the funeral service, the late monarch’s personal bagpiper paid a final solemn tribute with the traditional lament, “Sleep, Dearie, Sleep”.