Nicholas Soames attended the unveiling of a bust of his grandfather, Sir Winston Churchill, at the United States Senate in Washington DC on Wednesday, 30th October, 2013.

Speaking after the unveiling Nicholas Soames said; "The United States Congress did my grandfather a great honour and I was immensely proud to be able to represent his family at this extraordinary gathering at Statuary Hall, United States Capitol, which signifies yet again the closeness of our two countries."

FULL SPEECH
Mr. Speaker, Secretary Kerry, Leader Pelosi, Leader Reed, Leader MaConnell, distinguished Members of Congress, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen.

My family and I thank you most warmly for the great honour that you have accorded the memory of my grandfather in accepting the donation from The Churchill Centre of this magnificent bust of Sir Winston, to be permanently displayed here in the United States Capitol.

As you know, my grandfather visited Washington often during his long career, though perhaps most notably as a guest of President Franklin Roosevelt during the Second World War. On December 26, 1941, just days after the atrocity at Pearl Harbor, he addressed a joint session of Congress just yards away from where this ceremony is held today. On that occasion he famously joked that if his father had been an American and his mother British, instead of the other way round, he might have got here on his own.

Well now he is here in his own right, not as a guest, but as a member of an illustrious pantheon here in Statuary Hall. It is a wonderful and fitting tribute and one which would have given Churchill the greatest pleasure. Born to an American mother, he cherished above all his relationship with America and the American people, often describing himself as “an English-Speaking union”.

There is no doubt that the United States adopted him. In 1963, he was awarded honorary United States citizenship – the first by Act of Congress - and wrote to President Kennedy, “I contemplate with high satisfaction the constant factor of the interwoven and upward progress of our peoples. Our comradeship and our brotherhood in war were unexampled. We stood together and because of that the free world now stands”.

My grandfather spoke to Congress on three occasions, but in 1941 he concluded his remarks saying this: “I avow my hope and faith, sure and inviolate, that in the days to come the British and American peoples will for their own safety and for the good of all, walk together side by side in majesty, in justice and in peace”.

This bust is a symbol that his hopes are still being realised, for the benefit of this and future generations and his memory thus remains a beacon for free men and women everywhere.