The abiding memory, for most Britons, of the Queen’s extraordinary 80th birthday celebrations will not be the flags, bands, flowers, walkabouts or vibrant pink suit and hat — these have become standard fare at most royal celebrations. What will linger in the nation’s memory will be the generous and poignant public tribute paid by the Prince of Wales to his “darling Mama”, as apt as it was touching. It combined the personal warmth of a “proud and loving son” honouring a parent with the dynastic fealty of an heir to the throne renewing his allegiance to his sovereign.

Both sentiments were equally on display in the tributes and reminiscences yesterday. The birthday dinner at Kew, hosted by the Prince, mixed the stately national celebration with a family’s informal get-together to honour a spritely grandmother. Balancing these normally irreconcilable demands of family privacy and public ceremony has been one of the Queen’s particular skills — one that she has demonstrated with unerring sensitivity over her long reign and one that was rightly underlined in the Prince’s speech.

His words inevitably drew attention also to his own position as future King. This touches on issues far more complex and divisive than the heartfelt tributes paid yesterday to the Queen’s own record in office. Britain’s attitude to the monarchy is far from clear; while polls have found overwhelming approval for the way in which the Queen has discharged her duties as head of state, those same surveys do not give automatic endorsement to the continuation of her office or the succession of her son as King.

The Prince has himself sometimes appeared ambiguous over the Queen’s role as parent and sovereign. He has described, with some acerbity, his distress as a boy at feeling a lack of warmth from a remote and often absent mother. He has also given indications, not always with great subtlety, of his frustration at the long wait to assume the throne himself, hinting that moves to persuade the Queen to retire would have his private approval.

What has become increasingly apparent, however — both to him and to the nation — is the debt that he owes to the Queen. It is arguably only because of her astute handling of the Prince’s marital difficulties that he can now even be seen as her likely successor on the throne. Five or ten years ago, that was hardly certain. The public breakdown of his marriage, the acrimonious divorce and his widely condemned relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles not only placed great strain on the Queen; they brought the monarchy as an institution into dis- repute. It was only because of the dignified, temperate and cautious way in which the Queen handled this controversy that she was able to restore a modicum of harmony to the institution and stability to her son.

There is little doubt that the Prince’s long period as heir apparent has complicated his role. When the Queen came to the throne, she was a mere 25; her personality was largely unknown, her views and attitudes unfamiliar. Her son will be well over twice that age when he becomes King. His personality has been analysed in the ruthless glare of publicity, his views are almost clichéd in their familiarity. Yesterday, however, he rose above this disadvantage to join the rest of Britain in celebrating his mother. The tribute was generous and fitting.