During her only visit to Brazil, in 1968, Queen Elizabeth II visited Brasília. She was received at Palácio da Alvorada by then President Arthur da Costa e Silva, participated in a solemn session at the Federal Supreme Court (STF), made a speech at the National Congress and was the guest of honor at a banquet at the Itamaraty Palace.
In her speech at the Legislative Council on November 5 of that year, Elizabeth II, then 42 years old and reigning for 16 years, said that the Brazilian Parliament faced “problems of complexity and grandeur that few nations were called upon to resolve” and that it was up to that Power “the heavy task of creating unity in diversity”. The queen’s speech took place days before the publication of Institutional Act 5 (AI-5), which defined the hardest period of the military dictatorship in Brazil.
“Parliament is the means through which ordinary citizens can influence the way they and the country are governed, and therefore every Parliament must go through a process of continual readjustment and rebirth,” said the monarch. She then added: “Your Legislature, therefore, faces problems of complexity and magnitude that few nations have been called upon to resolve. And on you depends the heavy task of creating unity in diversity”.
In her speech, which is in the archives of the Chamber of Deputies, Elizabeth II highlighted what she classified as one of the facts that most impressed her about Brazil: the patriotism and unity of the Brazilian people.
“In this you have a deep source of strength. Furthermore, Brazil has managed, and in this has set an example to the world, to demonstrate that peoples of numerous races can live and work together in the pursuit of common goals.”
Still during her speech, the queen also highlighted that Brazil was not “only vast”, “but within its borders, there are very large regional differences: geographical, ethnic and economic”.
At that moment, when Brazil was about to enter a long period of regime of exception, Elizabeth II said that “all countries have their own internal objectives, but I believe that all free and progressive nations share the need to create a order and an international system within which society can act according to civilized standards”. According to the monarch, “the most difficult of all the world’s problems” was to discover “how nations can live in harmony”.
“Brazil, with its liberal traditions, its tolerance and the deep humanity of its people, can certainly make a remarkable particular contribution,” said Elizabeth II.
The British monarch’s stay in Brazil lasted 11 days — from November 1st to November 11th, 1968. The day after the speech at the National Congress, the Queen, accompanied by her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, visited a kindergarten in Superquadra 308 South, visited the Metropolitan Cathedral and the United Kingdom Embassy.
Source: CNN Brasil
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