Speech by President Tony Tan at State Banquet hosted by Queen Elizabeth II

Your Majesty The Queen

Your Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh

Your Royal Highnesses

Your Excellencies

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

        The Government and the people of Singapore are honoured that I have been invited by Your Majesty to make the first ever State Visit to the United Kingdom by a Singapore President. This is a historic milestone, which comes just ahead of the 50^th anniversary of Singapore’s independence next year in 2015.

        Formal diplomatic relations between our two countries were established immediately after Singapore’s unexpected independence in 1965, but our shared history dates much further back to 1819 when Sir Stamford Raffles, whose memorial I visited earlier today in Westminster Abbey, landed on the shores of Singapore to establish a trading port. Raffles would be pleased to know that his modest venture has developed into the second largest port in the world. Much has changed over the past 195 years, but the friendship between our two countries has not only endured, but flourished. We are now bound by much more than a shared history and a common language and legal system.

        Strong people-to-people ties underpin our economic, cultural and educational links. Many generations of British people have contributed to Singapore’s development, and their legacies are preserved in Singapore’s cityscape. Singapore has conserved many heritage buildings constructed by the British when Singapore was part of the British Straits Settlements and a Crown Colony. Streets named after British places and personalities have been kept as a reminder of our common history.

        Likewise, many Singaporeans have made the UK their second home and contribute actively in various sectors such as finance, healthcare, law, education, research and the creative arts. Some of these Singaporeans are here today. 

Singaporeans are welcome and feel at home in the UK. In July, I attended the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, where many athletes from the UK registered spectacular performances, and it was most heart-warming for me to see how Singapore athletes were warmly welcomed by their British hosts, and enduring friendships were forged at the Games.

        Your Majesty, Singapore was honoured to have hosted Your Majesty three times in 1972, 1989 and 2006. I was privileged to be the Minister-In-Attendance for Your Majesty’s State Visit in 1989, when I was then-Minister for Education, and I have fond memories of accompanying Your Majesty on your State Visit programme, including visits to Townsville Primary School and the National University of Singapore. The people of Singapore have genuine affection for Your Majesty. Many places in Singapore still bear Your Majesty’s name, and many Singaporeans fondly recall their personal experiences of Your Majesty’s visits. More recently, the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2012 further endeared the Royal Family to a younger generation of Singaporeans. I sincerely hope that contacts between our two countries will continue to grow and flourish. With this in mind, I would like to take this opportunity to invite Your Majesty, or your representative, to visit Singapore during the 50th anniversary of Singapore’s independence next year.

        And now, Your Royal Highnesses, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, may I ask you to rise and join me in a toast to Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh.