Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell opened up business in the upper chamber on Thursday with a note of solemn well-wishes for Queen Elizabeth II and her family.
The top Republican senator said in a floor speech that “[t]he queen, the royal family and all our friends in the United Kingdom have our thoughts and our prayers”. The speech occurred a few hours before news of her death was formally announced by Buckingham Palace.
He also praised the monarch as an exemplary leader and friend to the United States.
“The queen is an exemplar of steady leadership and a beloved figure around the world. She has been a historic friend of the US. The decades of her reign have seen a profound deepening of the special relationship between our two countries that has literally changed the world,” said Mr McConnell.
His speech joltingly moved on at that point to attacking Democrats on a number of issues including Gov Gavin Newsom’s effort to fight climate change with a ban on the sale of new gas-powered cars.
The White House released a similar statement to Mr McConnell’s, stressing that Joe Biden and Dr Jill Biden’s “thoughts are solidly and squarely with the Queen today and her family”.
A series of other figures on Capitol Hill would issue statements through their offices as well.
The senator released a longer statement a few hours later when the news of the Queen’s death was announced.
Today all Americans stand with our great friends across the Atlantic in mourning the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
“Elaine and I extend our deepest sympathies to the Royal Family and to the many millions of people across the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, and the entire world who have drawn reassurance and inspiration from her historic reign, sterling character, and shining example,” he said.
Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to address the US Congress when she did so before a joint session in 1991. The US and UK strengthened what has become to be known as the “special relationship” under her decades-long reign.
Mr McConnell touched on that work in his news release, writing that she “presided over an historic strengthening of our nations’ alliance that has changed the course of world history for the better”.
