Here on July 6, 1976, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain presented the Bicentennial Bell to the people of the United States, in these words:
I speak to you as the direct descendant of King George III. He was the last Crowned Sovereign to rule in this country, and it is therefore with a particular personal interest that I view those events which took place 200 years ago.
It seems to me that Independence Day, the Fourth of July, should be celebrated as much in Britain as in America. Not in rejoicing at the separation of the American Colonies from the British Crown, but in sincere gratitude to the Founding Fathers of this great Republic for having taught Britain a very valuable lesson.
We lost the American Colonies because we lacked that statesmanship "to know the right time, and the manner of yielding, what is impossible to keep".
