I would love to think that by the time I am 87 years old I will have half as much of the stamina, endurance, determination and strength of our beloved Queen. I have been following in her footsteps a little bit in the last week, and am full of admiration.

Last Monday, of course, she came to Salisbury for a pretty full day of engagements. Just the meet and greet of the great and the good followed by the tour of the lovely jousting tents from each of the areas of Wiltshire, the service in the Cathedral, and the walkabout afterwards would tire out most people. But other engagements that morning in Sherborne and a similar series the following day in Exeter and the South West, hardly bears thinking about. Two nights on the Royal train in the meanwhile cannot have been that restful!

By Wednesday she was attending the State Opening of Parliament. Walking from the Robing Room to the Chamber of the House of Lords wearing the Imperial State Crown and assorted robes and accoutrements would challenge many of us. Reading the Gracious Speech out to 1000 or so peers and MPs must seem like a marathon. I always love the pageantry outside the Palace, the superb and changeless ceremony of Black Rod having the door slammed in his face and the rest of it. I also rather enjoy seeing my elder brother Charles, who as Marshall of Her Majesty’s Diplomatic Corps is on parade at the other end of the House of Lords wearing his magnificent uniform and plumed hat.

The speech was what I wanted it to be – steadiness under fire as I described it last week. Some pretty good stuff in there, but nothing too flashy. Less government  is, in my view, good government.

On Thursday, my brother and I met again at the simply superbly staged equestrian celebration of the Diamond Jubilee in the gardens of Windsor Castle. Horses and performers of all kinds from across the many countries visited by the Queen in her 60 years put on the most spectacular performance I have seen in a long time. Her Majesty and Prince Philip were there the following evening.

These were just a few glimpses of the Queen’s punishing schedule, especially so in this Jubilee Year. It knows nothing, of course of all of the State papers, meetings, visits, social and cultural events with which her weekly diary is packed. I suspect that few of my readers would be able to keep up the pace she does – so ably supported at the age of 91 by HRH Prince Philip. They are an inspiration to us all.

Life’s never dull in politics, but this week has been astonishing. Dramatic local government election results, a clear rejection of any more constitutional changes like elected mayors (except in Bristol), a Euro-worrying election of a high-promising Socialist to the Elysee Palace and a bloody nose for the Greeks, are exciting developments by any standards.

The local government results were bad news for all of the major parties. Mid-term blues aside, we Tories lost a disturbing number of councillors, although locally managed to hang on in Swindon. There will be much soul-searching in the Party in the next week or two. Our Coalition partners in the Liberal Democrats have been virtually removed in any volume from local government, which is bad for them and for democracy, which demands pluralism and choice. Labour’s jubilation was tempered by continuing Scot Nat strength North of the Border, and of course disappointment that Boris saw off the Livingstone threat in London.

My personal view (from the luxurious position of the backbenches) is that the electorate are clear what they want and what they do not want. They want the economy sorted out and understand the necessity of possibly harsh cut-backs in an effort to achieve it; they want to see growth coming back and better news for jobs; they want better schools and hospitals, transport and local government services; they want strong defences, and are hesitant about overseas aid in achieving our foreign affairs goals. They want a decent, sensible, normal British way of life. And they want an end to ‘unimportant nonsense’, within which I would for convenience lump such peripheral matters as House of Lords reform, political correctness, health and safety and regulation and bureaucracy of all sorts, interfering bossiness from the EU, cool and trendy ideas and initiatives and general ‘froth.’

So by the time you read this, I hope that we will have had a Queen’s Speech, which offers a great deal for the economy and jobs, but steers clear of change for change’s sake, especially with regard to our beloved and well-tried constitution. I want less Government, lower taxes, greater freedoms, fewer laws, greater responsibility and choice for the individual. So I would shed no tears if Her Majesty announces precious few new bills, and a decent swathe of repeals!

And leaving legislation on one side, I want to see decent, competent, honourable and believable delivery of government over the months which lie ahead (and some might think in contrast to the last month or two.) I want my constituents to be enthusiastic about how well their government is doing, even if there may be elements of it which are not in their personal best interests. I want leadership from the top which lays out how the very many difficult decisions which will face us over the next year are nonetheless for the long-term good of the country.

I want my bosses to ‘steady back’ and consolidate, to concentrate on good governance rather than innovation and change and be ready to withstand the very cold wind which I anticipate is just about to blow across the Continent of Europe. Now is not the time for panic; it’s most certainly not the time for Nadine Dorries –like disloyalty and foolishness. It’s a time for Statesmanship and steadiness under fire.