Whoever you were, whatever your age, whatever you did or wherever you came from, the Queen Mother was always the same to everyone.

Her completely natural personality and sparkling wit and charm truly put all who met her at their ease.

As the Prince of Wales said in his touching and most moving tribute to his grandmother, she was indeed indomitable, tireless, wise and loving, with a unique natural grace and understanding of the British character.

She had as well an infectious optimism and was one of those rare people uniquely able to span the generations.

What a life - born in the reign of Queen Victoria, married to the last King Emperor, the first non-Royal Queen consort since Catherine Parr in the 16th Century - she lived in two centuries and through two fearful wars, in the first of which she lost her brother, Fergus, an officer in the Black Watch, an event which marked her for the rest of her life.

It was the telescope of history which gave her such wisdom and experience.

She lived in the reigns of six monarchs, through a period of the most profound social, technological and economic change, yet never lost her bearings, fortified and sustained as she was by the discipline of her Christian faith.

She wrote, in a foreword to a book, An Anthology Of Assurance, by one of her Ladies in Waiting, Lady Elizabeth Basset, that: "We can, at one at the same time, be truly contemporary men and women and yet have our thoughts and lives rooted in truths that do not change."

Her affection, admiration and respect for the Armed Forces and her robust defence of all military traditions bound her closely to all three services and, of course, particularly to their old comrades.

Indeed, she caused me some testing moments when I was Minister of State for the Armed Forces, as she kindly but firmly let me know of her concern or perhaps, indeed, disapproval at some cut or amalgamation proposed by the Government.

Her loyalty and support for all her regiments and Naval and Air Force affiliations was, and will ever remain, of the most profound importance and encouragement to all who so deeply value and cherish so important and historic a connection of which they will be forever extremely proud.

Queen Elizabeth loved life but she was also a symbol for all the generations of courage and endurance in peace and war and of truth and gentleness and constancy to duty.

In Kipling's words, she did indeed walk with kings and yet retained the common touch. With her passing, someone very special, very splendid and wholly unique has gone out of our lives forever.

Truly it can be said of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother that we shall never see her like again.

Rest eternal grant her and may light perpetual shine upon her.

-Nicholas Soames, MP for Mid Sussex