Lord Howard of Lympne has paid tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and recalled his experience as a guest at Windsor Castle.

The former Conservative leader of the opposition, who was MP for Folkestone and Hythe between 1983 and 2010, was speaking during a debate in the upper chamber allowing peers to give their tributes to the late monarch.

He recognised the Queen's important role representing the nation around the world, describing her as "soft power personified".

Recalling an occasion as a guest of the Queen, Lord Howard said: "Much has been said about the way she put people at ease, and I had the privilege, with my wife, of spending a night at Windsor Castle when I was leader of the opposition.

"I was amazed to find in the library the trouble that had been taken to assemble a collection of objects which related to my constituency, Folkestone and Hythe, objects I had known nothing at all about and which were quite remarkable.

"Perhaps the most telling example of the way she could put people at ease occurred when a friend of mine who had been subject to much trauma was invited to lunch at the palace, sat next to the Queen and, in the middle of the lunch, froze.

"The Queen sent for the corgis and, together, they fed the corgis, and my friend unfroze and was able to continue the conversation."

Concluding his speech, he said: "My Lords, we have lost a great monarch, a great friend and, as she described herself, a servant - our country’s greatest and most faithful servant."

A former Home Secretary, Lord Howard is a member of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, the formal body of advisers to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom.