Two things strike me as remarkable about the Queen's current visit to Turkey. The first is the adamant firmness of her public support for Turkey joining the EU as a full member. For someone who is normally and understandably cautious in all matters of diplomacy, she was almost outspoken. The second is the sheer resilience and dedication to duty of our two senior royals, particularly as the Duke of Edinburgh is clearly at present not in the best of health.

At the state banquet welcoming the Queen and the Duke to Ankara, Turkey's first lady, Hayrunnisa Gul, wore a headscarf, which was seen as an affront to elements in the Turkish military that are always on the lookout for any threat to Turkey's status as a secular state. But her husband, President Abdullah Gul, wore a tuxedo, despite his customary aversion to such western dress. So I think the two gestures balanced each other out.

What was potentially far more controversial was the Queen's forthright endorsement of Turkey's future membership of the EU. This has become a matter of bitter division, not just in Turkey itself, but across much of Europe, in Cyprus and Greece in particular, but also in Germany and France.

These last two countries have insisted that they do not want Turkey to be anything more than a so-called "special partner". So they resist the country's quest for full membership, and both Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy respectively have in the past been eloquent on the matter. Sarkozy actually made opposition to Turkish membership of the EU a major plank in his recent, successful, election campaign.

Britain, on the other hand, has been steadfast in its support of Turkey. To be fair to Tony Blair, there was the never the slightest doubt as to where he stood on this issue. The former Prime Minister, and also Jack Straw when he was Foreign Secretary, were notably positive and persistent in their promotion of Turkey's full membership.

And well they might be. As the Queen noted in her excellent speech, Turkey's confident and dynamic democracy, and its role as a stabilising force, have stood out in one of the world's most tense strategic areas. Slightly more cynically, but realistically, she mentioned Turkey's role in providing secure energy supplies.

Turkey's moves to join the EU (which started as long ago as 1963) have helped, not hindered, the country's important and benign role in the vast volatile area that straddles Europe and Asia. But support in Turkey itself for EU membership has been slipping. Now the policy appears to be supported by less than half the population. To some extent, this simply reflects anger at interminable foot-dragging by EU diplomats.

There are, of course, considerable reservations about the modern Turkish state. Human rights abuses; the growing tendency of the ruling Justice and Development Party (the AKP) to flout the secular status that modern Turkey's founder, Ataturk, was so keen on; and the corollary of increased Muslim militancy - these cannot be ignored. The AKP has been challenged with judicial and constitutional proceedings because it has been openly anti-secular.

But surely legitimate worries about such problems are an argument for, not against, EU membership? Excluding Turkey from mainstream Europe would be a grievous mistake, a gift to the various anti-secular forces in the country.

I'm surprising myself; I've already praised Tony Blair and now I'm praising the EU. Many, probably most, enlightened Turks still see EU membership as an impetus for accelerated democratisation and secular reform in their country.

The matter is becoming urgent. Even those most fervent for full Turkish membership doubt if it can be accomplished before 2015. Meanwhile, the wider region is likely to become ever more dangerous. The accession process needs to be speeded up, not slowed down. Perhaps one thing the Turks could do, meantime, is increase their presence in Brussels. They have a very credible case, but I wonder if it is being made forcefully enough at the heart of Europe.

To return to the Queen and the Duke, it is not necessarily pro- monarchy, and certainly not intended to provoke republicans, to note simply how well and how assiduously they do their demanding and sensitive jobs. State visits must be at times tedious and tiring - and always fraught with little difficulties that cannot be foreseen. The Queen, generally supported by the Duke, handles all this superbly. For someone of her age, she is special. I do think there is a case for her standing down, now that she is in her eighties, but I suspect that privately she wants to reign for longer than Queen Victoria.

Meanwhile, she and the Duke deserve respect and admiration. For once, the cliche is true: we shall not see their like again.