Queen Elizabeth II: The Spirit of Democracy

Learn English with Queen Elizabeth II. In her 1991 address to the United States Congress, Queen Elizabeth II reflects on democracy, shared values, and the long friendship between Britain and America. Speaking after the Gulf War and during major changes in Europe, she highlights freedom, cooperation, the rule of law, and the importance of working together for peace and stability.

Who This Speech Is For

• Learners interested in democracy, leadership, diplomacy, and world history.
• Students who want to understand formal British English in a political setting.
• Intermediate to advanced learners studying speeches about freedom, cooperation, and international relations.

How This Speech Helps Your English

• Learn formal vocabulary connected to democracy, government, peace, and global cooperation.
• Notice how a speaker builds authority through historical references and balanced sentence structure.
• Study diplomatic language that is respectful, measured, and persuasive.
• Practice listening to clear British pronunciation in a formal public address.

Why This Speech Matters

• Shows how Britain and the United States describe their shared democratic values.
• Connects the Gulf War, European change, and the United Nations to a broader call for cooperation.
• Reminds listeners that freedom, tolerance, and the rule of law need constant protection.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, distinguished members of Congress, I know what a rare privilege it is to address a joint meeting of your two houses. Thank you for inviting me.

The concept so simply described by Abraham Lincoln as government by the people, of the people, for the people, is fundamental to our two nations. Your Congress and our Parliament are the twin pillars of our civilizations, and the chief among the many treasures that we have inherited from our predecessors. We, like you, are staunch believers in the freedom of the individual and the rule of a fair and just law. These principles are shared with our European partners and with the wider Atlantic community.

They are the bedrock of the Western world. Some people believe that power grows from the barrel of a gun. So it can, but history shows that it never grows well, nor for very long. Force in the end is sterile.

We have gone a better way. Our societies rest on mutual agreement, on contract, and on consensus. A significant part of your social contract is written down in your Constitution. Ours rests on custom and will.

The spirit behind both, however, is precisely the same. It is the spirit of democracy. These ideals are clear enough, but they must never be taken for granted. They have to be protected and nurtured through every change and fluctuation.

I want to take this opportunity to express the gratitude of the British people to the people of the United States of America for their steadfast loyalty to our common enterprise throughout this turbulent century. The future is, as ever, obscure. The only certainty is that it will present the world with new and daunting problems. But if we continue to stick to our fundamental ideals, I have every confidence that we can resolve them.

Recent events in the Gulf have proved that it is possible to do just that. Both our countries saw the invasion of Kuwait in just the same terms: an outrage to be reversed both for the people of Kuwait and for the sake of the principle that naked aggression should not prevail. Our views were identical, and so were our responses. That response was not without risk, but we have both learned from history that we must not allow aggression to succeed.

I salute the outstanding leadership of your President and the courage and prowess of the Armed Forces of the United States. I know that the servicemen and women of Britain, and of all the members of the coalition, were proud to act in a just cause alongside their American comrades. Unfortunately, experience shows that great enterprises seldom end with a tidy and satisfactory flourish. Together, we are doing our best to reestablish peace and civil order in the region, and to help those members of ethnic and religious minorities who continue to suffer through no fault of their own.

If we succeed, our military success will have achieved its true objective. For all that uncertainty, it would be a mistake to make the picture look too gloomy. The swift and dramatic changes in Eastern Europe in the last decade have opened up great opportunities for the people of those countries. They are finding their own paths to freedom, but the paths would have been blocked if the Atlantic alliance had not stood together, if your country and mine had not stood together.

Let us never forget that lesson. Britain is at the heart of a growing movement towards greater cohesion within Europe, and within the European community in particular. This is going to mean radical economic, social, and political evolution. NATO too is adapting to the new realities in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, and to changing attitudes in the West.

It is Britain’s prime concern to ensure that the new Europe is open and liberal, and that it works in growing harmony with the United States and the other members of the Atlantic community. All our history in this and earlier centuries underlines the basic point that the best progress is made when Europeans and Americans act in concert. We must not allow ourselves to be enticed into a form of continental insularity. I believe this is particularly important now, at a time of major social, environmental, and economic changes in your continent and in Asia and Africa.

We must make sure that those changes do not become convulsions, for the primary interest of our societies is not domination, but stability. Stability so that ordinary men and women everywhere can get on with their lives in confidence. Our two countries have a special advantage in seeking to guide the process of change because of the rich ethnic and cultural diversity of both our societies. Stability in our own countries depends on tolerance and understanding between different communities.

Perhaps we can together build on our experience to spread the message we have learnt at home to those regions where it has yet to be absorbed. Whether we will be able to realize our hopes will depend on the maintenance of an acceptable degree of international order. In this, we see the United Nations as the essential instrument in the promotion of peace and cooperation. We look to its charter as the guardian of civilized conduct between nations.

In 1941, President Roosevelt spoke of freedom of speech and expression everywhere in the world. Freedom of every person to worship God in their own way everywhere in the world. Freedom from want and freedom from fear. Just as our societies have prospered through their reliance on contract, not force, so too will the world be a better place for the spread of that mutual respect and good faith which are so fundamental to our way of life.

Freedom under the rule of law is an international as well as a national concern. That thought might be in the minds of those of you attending the 50th anniversary meeting of the British American Parliamentary Group in July. Both our houses are eager to greet you. They will, I know, tell you that our aim as Britons and Europeans is to celebrate and nurture our longstanding friendship with the people of the United States.

We want to build on that foundation and to do better. And if the going gets rough, I hope you can still agree with your poet, Emerson, who wrote in 1847, “I feel in regard to this aged England with a kind of instinct that she sees a little better on a cloudy day, and that in storm of battle and calamity, she has a secret vigor and a pulse like a cannon.” You will find us … You will find us worthy partners, and we are proud to have you as our friends. May God bless America.