Without the weary queen, but with Harry and Meghan: the British royal family gathered on Friday for a religious service celebrating 70 years of the historic reign of Elizabeth II, on the second day of her platinum jubilee.
Buckingham Palace announced on Thursday evening the “reluctant” absence of the 96-year-old monarch, head of the Church, due to a certain “discomfort”. As more and more often, the queen, who has difficulty walking, is represented by her heir Charles.
She appeared twice Thursday on the balcony of the palace and took part in the evening at Windsor Castle in a brief ceremony to turn on the illuminations.
Highligths
The religious ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London marks the first royal appearance in the UK for Prince Harry and Meghan since leaving for California two years ago.
The Duke of Sussex, military medals hanging from his jacket, and the Duchess, in an off-white dress, arrived shortly after 11:00 a.m. (12:00 p.m. Swiss) to applause – and a few boos – on the steps of the cathedral. Before them had arrived Prime Minister Boris Johnson, booed by the crowd, holding the hand of his wife Carrie, and his predecessors Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron.
A heavy ceremonial surrounds this religious ceremony, with guards in traditional uniforms in rows on the forecourt and on the steps, and bells ringing continuously. Some 2,000 people attend the event, which is one of the highlights of the four days of festivities marking the record longevity of the very popular Queen Elizabeth.
“It’s a very moving moment,” admits Karen Fletcher, 55, who came early in the morning in front of Saint-Paul. “We will never see anything like this again”, she adds, saying to herself “sad” that the queen does not come. “It’s nice to celebrate something without being told about the cost of living crisis, it’s a parenthesis,” adds Stephanie Stitt, 35.
Difficult relationships
The return of the “Sussex”, who came from the United States with their two young children for the celebrations, has caused a lot of hostile ink to flow, a reflection of great unpopularity in the United Kingdom since their departure and their sensational confessions on television American.
After the family tensions of the past two years, all gestures and looks before, during and after the service will be examined with a magnifying glass. For two years, relations between Harry and William have been almost non-existent. They are hardly better with Prince Charles.
According to the couple’s biographer, Omid Scobie, they had lunch with family members in Windsor on Thursday, giving the Queen the opportunity to meet their daughter Lilibet for the first time, who is celebrating her first birthday on Saturday.
Rare appearances
Prince Andrew, the Queen’s second son, is also absent because he has Covid-19, according to Buckingham Palace. He no longer has any official role, since charges of sexual assault in connection with the Epstein affair in the United States, which he put an end to by paying several million dollars.
Neither he nor Harry and Meghan had been invited to the Buckingham Palace balcony on Thursday, from where the Queen was cheered on by tens of thousands of Londoners.
The celebrations will continue on Saturday with a big evening concert in front of Buckingham Palace, before thousands of lunches and popular parties between neighbors on Sunday, and a huge parade through the streets of London in the evening, with nearly 10,000 participants.
Back to imperial measurements
Taking advantage of this patriotic atmosphere, the Conservative government launched a consultation on Friday to restore, in the wake of Brexit, the use of the imperial measurement system, with the return of pounds instead of kilos in shops, and to certify pint size with a crown logo in place of the European EWC.
This article has been published automatically. Sources: ats / afp