Here’s what Prof Travers said:

“I’ve been a resident of Camden for 41 years with a brief break in Westminster and I’d just like to first thank you very briefly for this opportunity in a moment of personal and, for all of us, national reflection.

Of course, it’s a slightly melancholy moment, but from melancholy can come strength and long term resilience. I think we must think about both the present and the future. I want to tell two short anecdotes.

One relates to the London School of Economics where I work. When the Queen came to open the new academic building in November 2008, this was the day after Barack Obama had been elected as President of the United States. It was also in the middle of the credit crunch, financial markets collapsing and so on.

So, the Queen turns up and short lecture is put on to explain how the credit crunch came about: all this bank lending, the collapse of the global markets, banks needing to be propped up… and what this meant for the future.

The Queen was then allowed to ask a question and the Queen asked the following question: Why did no one spot it coming? Slightly colloquial, I think it was slightly longer than that but that’s how the press reported it.

Great question. It tells you something about how when talking to prime ministers – successive prime ministers –  I doubt the Queen eve expressed a view but I do think she probably asked some very interesting questions.

I was on the welcome party for that and wasn’t actually in the room, but I was privileged to be invited to the opening of Tate Modern in Southwark. And this was in 2000.

The Queen gave a speech, which lasted… well, I’m going to give you the speech in full. You can still see this on the internet.

Talk about precision, the Queen said and I quote: I now declare the Tate Modern open. That was a speech in its entirety. The shortest I’ve ever heard.

All our thoughts, I’m sure are with the royal family with King Charles and of course with the Queen.”