Tag: Queen Elizabeth
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Queen Elizabeth II Says COVID-19 vaccination harmless, feels protected
UK Queen Elizabeth II, turning 95 in April, shared her thoughts on vaccination and how she felt “protected’’ on the Royal family’s official Twitter on Friday.
“Well once you’ve had the vaccine, you have a feeling of, you know, you’re protected, which is why I think is very important.
“As far as I can make out it was quite harmless. It was very quick,’’ the Queen said in a video conference uploaded on Twitter.
The Queen stressed that the shot did not hurt at all, and urged people who have never been vaccinated before and are doubtful to think about others first and get vaccinated.
On Jan. 9, Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Duke Philip of Edinburgh, were vaccinated against Coronavirus at Windsor Castle, where the Queen and her husband were self-isolating during lock-down.
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Queen Elizabeth to Britons: If we unite, resolute we’ll overcome COVID-19
The Queen has said the UK “will succeed” in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic but acknowledged there may be “more to endure” before normality can return to the country.
In a rare televised address to the nation, the UK’s head of state delivered a message of hope, saying if people “remain united and resolute” in the face of the outbreak “we will overcome it”.
She thanked frontline NHS staff, care workers and others for “selflessly” carrying out their essential roles during the crisis and echoed the words of Dame Vera Lynn when she told the British public: “We will meet again”.
The Queen spoke as the country approached its third week in lockdown as part of efforts to slow the spread of Covid-19, which has already led to the deaths of nearly 5,000 people.
“We will succeed – and that success will belong to every one of us,” she said in her address from Windsor Castle, which was pre-recorded before this weekend.
“We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again.
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Queen Elizabeth to address Britons as number of coronavirus cases, deaths topples that of China
Queen Elizabeth will make an extremely rare address to the nation on Sunday as Britain grapples with the increasingly deadly coronavirus outbreak.
The government has put Britain into a virtual lockdown, closing pubs, restaurants and nearly all shops, while banning social gatherings and ordering Britons to stay at home unless it is absolutely essential to venture out.
The officials said that the measures were intended to stop the spread of the epidemic.
The officials added that on Friday the death toll in the United Kingdom among those who had tested positive for the virus had risen by 684 to 3,605, up 23% on the previous day.
“Her Majesty The Queen has recorded a special broadcast to the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth in relation to the coronavirus outbreak,” Buckingham Palace said in statement.
The address, which was recorded at Windsor Castle where the 93-year-old monarch is staying with her husband Prince Philip, will be broadcast at 1900 GMT on Sunday, it said.
Last month, the queen issued a written statement in which she said the royal family would play its part in rising to the challenge of the coronavirus outbreak.
“We know that many individuals and families across the United Kingdom, and around the world, are entering a period of great concern and uncertainty,” she said then.
“We are all being advised to change our normal routines and regular patterns of life for the greater good of the communities we live in and, in particular, to protect the most vulnerable within them.”
The queen rarely broadcasts to the nation apart from her annual televised Christmas Day message, usually to offer personal thanks or provide reassurance in times of crisis.
Royal experts said it would be only the fifth such televised address she had made during her 68 years on the throne.
The last was in 2012 following celebrations to mark her 60th year as queen which came a decade after the preceding broadcast which followed the death of her mother, the Queen Mother, in 2002 when she thanked Britons for their messages of condolence.
She also gave an address at the start of the Gulf War in 1991, and most famously, she delivered a sombre live broadcast after the death of her daughter-in-law Princess Diana in a Paris car crash in 1997, amid a national outpouring of grief and criticism of the royal family’s response.
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Queen Elizabeth’s nephew set to divorce wife of 26 years
The Earl of Snowdon, the nephew of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, and his wife of 26 years are to divorce.
The Earl, David Armstrong-Jones, is 21st in line to the throne and has two grown-up children with wife Serena, the Countess of Snowdon.
“The Earl and Countess of Snowdon have amicably agreed that their marriage has come to an end and that they shall be divorced,” the BBC quoted a spokesman for the couple as saying.
The Earl, who has a furniture company under his professional name David Linley, is the son of the queen’s sister Princess Margaret, who died in 2002, and photographer Lord Snowdon, who died in 2017.
The news comes after a tough few months for the queen.
Prince Harry and wife Meghan plunged the royal family into crisis last month when they announced they were cutting back on official duties.
The queen’s second son, Prince Andrew, stepped down from public duties in November over his connections to U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was facing charges of trafficking underage girls for sex when he killed himself last year.
Earlier in February, the queen’s eldest grandson, Peter Phillips, and wife Autumn, said they were divorcing after 12 years of marriage.
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Queen Elizabeth summons family meeting over Harry, Meghan
Queen Elizabeth has reportedly called an emergency meeting of the British royal family to discuss Meghan and Harry’s future roles, after their shock announcement of stepping down from royal duties.
The Duke of Sussex, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge have all been invited to attend the talks at the monarch’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk, reported metro.co.uk.
It will be the first meeting of the four since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s shock announcement on Wednesday that they will be stepping down as senior royals.
According to sources Charles will be travelling from Birkhall in Scotland, William from his Kensington Palace apartment while Harry from Frogmore Cottage near Windsor Castle.
They are expected to discuss a range of options and will try to come to an agreement before the meeting ends to stop the crisis causing lasting damage to the British monarchy, the newspaper reported on Saturday night.
Faced with speculation her grandson may leave the country to join his wife and son in Canada as early as next week, the Queen reportedly gave a 72 hour ultimatum for the pair’s future roles in the family to be finalised.
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Queen Elizabeth celebrates 93rd birthday with parade; Meghan in attendance
Queen Elizabeth II on Saturday celebrated her 93rd birthday with a parade, a cause for Meghan, the duchess of Sussex and wife of Prince Harry, to make her first official engagement since the birth of their son Archie in May.
Elizabeth II is the Queen of the UK and the other Commonwealth realms, she was born in London as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York, they later became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
The queen’s birthday falls on April 21, however, she traditionally plans birthday festivities for June due to the typically warmer weather.
The crowds were in luck: After a rainy morning, the sun popped out
The queen arrived at the Horse Guards Parade near Buckingham Palace by carriage, where some 1,400 soldiers took part in the spectacle.
The queen’s husband, Prince Philip, who turns 98 years old on Monday, did not attend; he has rarely been seen in public since entering retirement.
Later on, the queen, with her family, are scheduled to watch the Red Arrows air show from the balcony of the palace.
The crowds were especially thrilled to see Meghan, who did not participate in the official events that took place for U.S. President Donald Trump’s three-day state visit to Britain this week.
Report says the former actress is considered a sharp critic of Trump’s policies.
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Queen Elizabeth’s used cars up for grabs
Vintage Rolls Royce cars used by Queen Elizabeth and members of the British royal family over the past seven decades are to be auctioned next month, at prices expected to reach up to 2.6 million U.S. dollars.
Top of the list at the sale by auctioneers Bonhams on Sept. 8 is a 1953 Rolls-Royce Phantom IV State Landaulette, built in celebration of Rolls-Royce’s Golden Jubilee and used by Queen Elizabeth.
It was kept in the Royal Mews from 1959 until 2002, said Bonhams who have listed the price tag at between 1.3 million U.S. dollars to 2.6 million U.S. dollars.
It is one of only 18 of the models ever built by Rolls Royce.
The Phathom IV is very similar to the bridal car used to transport Meghan Markle to Windsor Castle for her May wedding to Prince Harry.
The car, used by Meghan, now the Duchess of Sussex, and her mother Doria as they travelled from their hotel to St George’s Chapel, was another of the 18 models built only for heads of state and the most notable of public figures, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
The collection of eight highly important Rolls-Royce motors, includes vehicles used by the late Diana, Princess of Wales, first wife of the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles.
Also up for sale is the 1960 Rolls-Royce Phantom V “High Roof” State Limousine, which Bonhams has priced at between 1.3 million U.S. dollars and 2 million U.S. dollars.
The car was modified with high seats and large windows to enable the public to see the Queen as she was driven past on her visits and tours.
The limousine, also used by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh on state occasions, is currently on display on the Royal Yacht Britannia in Edinburgh.
One of the Rolls Royce’s being sold is very similar to the bridal car used to transport Meghan Markle to Windsor Castle for her May wedding to Prince Harry.
That car, used by Ms Markle and her mother Doria as they travelled from their hotel to St George’s Chapel, was another of the 18 models built only for heads of state and the most notable of public figures, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
Malcolm Barber, co-chairman of Bonhams told the Sunday Telegraph that only very rarely would cars like this come onto the open market, saying he could not think of another like it in his career of more than 30 years.
Of the Phantom IV, Barber said: “It’s a jewel in the collection.
Rolls-Royce motor cars have been present at countless historic events in recent British history, and the Heritage Fleet encapsulates the most significant models produced by the marque.”
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CHOGM18: Queen Elizabeth pushes for Prince Charles succession
Queen Elizabeth on Thursday while formally declaring open the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) at Buckingham Palace in Central London, urged Commonwealth heads of governments to allow her son, Prince Charles, succeed her.
TheNewsGuru reports Queen Elizabeth is pushing Prince Charles becomes the group’s next head in advance amid expectation that the 53 heads of government presently attending the CHOGM18 will discuss succession on Friday.
“It is my sincere wish that the Commonwealth will continue to offer stability and continuity to future generations, and will decide that one day the Prince of Wales [Prince Charles] should carry on the important work started by my father in 1949,” the queen, 91, told the leaders at the opening of a biennial summit.
Although the Queen took over from her father, King George VI, who died of lung cancer in 1952, the position of the queen or king of England is said to be not hereditary.
“We are one of the great convening powers… and we seem to by growing stronger year by year,” the queen told the 53 heads of government, including British Prime Minister Theresa May and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
She highlighted Commonwealth initiatives including a “blue charter” to protect the marine environment, saying the British royal family was “proud to play a part” in them.
Earlier, May paid tribute to the queen’s “service and dedication” to the Commonwealth, which Elizabeth has headed since 1952.
“You have been true to the deepest values of the Commonwealth – that the voice of the smallest member country is worth precisely as much as that of the largest; that the wealthiest and the most vulnerable stand shoulder to shoulder. For your service, for your dedication, for your constancy – we thank you,” May said in a speech.
May earlier urged the other nations at the two-day summit to follow Britain’s plan to end the sale of plastic straws, drink stirrers and plastic-stemmed cotton buds.
“Plastic waste is one of the greatest environmental challenges facing the world, which is why protecting the marine environment is central to our agenda at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting,” she said.
Most of the 53 states in the Commonwealth, which was formed in 1949, were once ruled directly or indirectly by Britain.
The summit which was originally to be hosted by Vanuatu at the end of 2017 was moved to the UK as Vanuatu was no longer able to host the event due to the damage done by Cyclone Pam to the island nation’s infrastructure.
The meeting was postponed to the spring of 2018 due to other international commitments.
The position of Commonwealth Chair-in-Office, held by the government leader of the CHOGM host country, will be transferred at the summit from the Prime Minister of Malta to the Prime Minister of the UK who will hold the post until the 26th CHOGM expected in 2020.
The theme of the summit is “Towards a Common Future”.
The British hosts have set out four main goals for the summit.
These are prosperity; boosting intra-Commonwealth trade and investment security; increasing cooperation across security challenges including global terrorism, organized crime and cyber attacks fairness, and promoting democracy.
Others are fundamental freedoms and good governance across the Commonwealth sustainability; building the resilience of small and vulnerable states to deal with the effects of climate change and other global crises
Under consideration will be a Commonwealth Blue Charter on ocean governance, a Commonwealth connectivity agenda for trade and investment, a declaration on cybercrime, and revised Commonwealth guidelines on election observation in member countries.[
This will be the first CHOGM held following the UK’s decision to withdraw from the European Union, a decision which has resulted in calls for Britain to strengthen its economic ties with and play a greater role in the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth currently is responsible for one-tenth of British trade compare to the EU with which the UK currently conducts half of its trade.
Intra-Commonwealth trade, overall, is expected to increase by at least 17 per cent around 700 billion dollars by 2020.
The summit ends on Friday.
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Queen Elizabeth skips Charles, ‘anoints’ William as likely successor
Queen Elizabeth has announced that she will be passing down her crown to her grandson Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton.
This, of course, means that the Queen has skipped over her own son, Prince Charles, in the British monarchy’s line of succession.
“Her Majesty realised that William and Kate are the future,” said a palace insider. “She has spent 65 years making sure that the House of Windsor survives, and she sees William and Kate as having the energy and star quality to do the job in a modern world. Queen Elizabeth will always do what is best for the long-term health of the monarchy.”
Her Majesty has also said that she truly does not believe the monarchy has the “respect and power it once had.” The source continued, “In her eyes, William and Kate are the two people who can turn that around.”
The decision, said a report, has caused a rift between William and his father Charles. According to the same insider, their relationship has been strained, but they will get used to it eventually.
