Thank you, Prime Minister Holeness, for your kind words of introduction.
I'm delighted to welcome you all to the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference; and it is perhaps fitting that you have come together in Glasgow, once a heartland of the industrial revolution, but now a place to address climate change.
This is a duty I am especially happy to discharge, as the impact of the environment on human progress was a subject close to the heart of my dear late husband, Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh.
I remember well that in 1969, he told an academic gathering: "If the world pollution situation is not critical at the moment, it is as certain as anything can be, that the situation will become increasingly intolerable within a very short time. . .
If we fail to cope with this challenge, all the other problems will pale into insignificance."
It is a source of great pride to me that the leading role my husband played in encouraging people to protect our fragile planet, lives on through the work of our eldest son Charles and his eldest son William.
I could not be more proud of them.
Indeed, I have drawn great comfort and inspiration from the relentless enthusiasm of people of all ages — especially the young — in calling for everyone to play their part.
In the coming days, the world has the chance to join in the shared objective of creating a safer, stabler future for our people and for the planet on which we depend.
None of us underestimates the challenges ahead: but history has shown that when nations come together in common cause, there is always room for hope.
