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Queen has “ruled out” using a wheelchair
The queen still hopes to attend Prince Philip’s memorial service on March 29, but may not be mobile enough to do so, royal courtiers fear, the Mail on Sunday reports. The paper says the 95-year-old monarch has “ruled out” using a wheelchair, and wants to walk for as long as possible. Last week, she was doing just that, without a walking stick, at Windsor Castle, the Mail on Sunday reports.
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However, on Friday it was announced the queen would not attend the Commonwealth Service on Monday. While Prince Charles will attend the occasion in her place—and she will watch the service on TV—“detailed plans” are being drawn up for the queen to comfortably attend the Service of Thanksgiving for Prince Philip.
The service has been cut to 50 minutes, and the queen may use a side door, instead of an arduous walk down the central aisle of Westminster Abbey.
Queen too frail to walk beloved Corgis
They are not only her favorite dogs, they are as iconic as pooches go, always snuffling and shuffling in packs around the queen. But the Sun reports that the queen is now too frail to walk her beloved corgis, and hasn’t been well enough to do so for the last six months.
A source of great pleasure and comfort to her, the Sun says she hasn’t walked her dogs since October, when she spent a night in the hospital. “She is not well enough,” a source told the Sun. “The queen usually turns to her beloved corgis in time of crisis and stress, and took them out almost every day after Philip fell ill and then died last year. They are an enormous source of solace, so it is a real shame.”
The Sun said there is “growing concern” for the 95-year-old monarch’s health, especially given that she pulled out of attending Monday’s Commonwealth Service.
Will Harry bring Lilibet to meet the queen?
The latest royal mystery is whether and when Prince Harry will visit Britain—and the queen. He also seems to have stirred consternation for releasing a jokey video to promote the Invictus Games, just after saying he wouldn’t be able to attend Prince Philip’s memorial service.
In the video, Harry, dressed in bright orange tried to master some Dutch and announced: “See you soon in The Hague.” On Friday, his spokesperson said Harry would not be attending Prince Philip’s Service of Thanksgiving on March 29, but did want to visit the queen “as soon as possible.”
The Sun reported that the queen was told of Harry’s decision not to attend the memorial service 15 minutes before he went public. But royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told the Sun that it was “increasingly unlikely” that Harry would bring Lilibet to meet the queen when he does visit, which means the queen may not get to meet the great-granddaughter who has been given her pet name as her first name.
Time will tell of course. Right now, it may make most sense for Harry to visit the U.K. before or after he attends the Invictus Games in the Netherlands in mid-April. But first Harry would have to feel adequately protected when he does; he launched a court battle over his personal security when in the U.K., having claimed he did not feel safe for himself and his family visiting the country without the provision of specially trained Metropolitan Police officers the royals traditionally employ. Harry has gone to court over his offer to pay for such security himself.
The Daily Beast previously reported that Harry would make a private visit to the queen, regardless of whether he is involved in the queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations later in the year. This also seems unlikely as Harry and Meghan not only are not “senior royals,” but also family relations are far from restored after the fallout over Harry and Meghan’s accusations and allegations of racism and a general lack of royal care—and the distinct likelihood of more revelations and bombshells in Harry’s forthcoming memoir.
A source told the Sun: “It is such a shame that he (Harry) will miss his grandfather’s memorial service. It was supposed to be a time for the family to all come together to remember a great man.”
The source added that the queen meeting Lilibet for the first time “would make it even more of a special occasion. Now none of that will go ahead—yet he is willing to travel to Holland for the Invictus Games, which is only 300 miles away. It will probably raise eyebrows and most probably hurt feelings.”
William and Kate’s Jamaica “charm offensive”
This coming Saturday, Prince William and Kate Middleton head to Jamaica, and an insightful Sunday Times report shows how they’re treading a fine line in hoping to dazzle the Caribbean country enough so they don’t pursue becoming a republic any time soon, while being guests in a country more than half of whose population wants precisely that, according to a 2020 Jamaica Observer poll.
“Royals’ Jubilee Mission: to Hold on to Jamaica,” the Sunday Times headline reads, with William and Kate said to be planning to “love bomb” and conduct a “charm offensive” in the country—their political objective made more urgent by Barbados becoming a full republic in November.
Buckingham Palace says Jamaica’s destiny is for it to decide; it originally gained its independence from Britain in 1962, with the queen remaining its head of state. However, the timing of Kate and William’s Caribbean travels—also to Belize (which gained its independence from Britain in 1981) and the Bahamas (which gained its independence in 1973)—shows that the palace also hopes to keep these countries from becoming fully extricated republics for as long as possible.
A royal source, likely seeking to defuse controversy, told the Sunday Times that William and Kate’s visits to the countries were to thank them for the support they had shown to the queen in this Platinum Jubilee year.
This week in royal history
On March 18, 1986, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson got engaged. Somehow or maybe because of it all, after getting divorced and going through countless scandals, they remain the closest of friends and co-parents all these years later—including Fergie supporting Andrew as he vehemently denied (and later settled a lawsuit) over allegations that he had raped Virginia Roberts Giuffre when she was underage and being sexually trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein.
Unanswered questions
Will Prince Harry come to Britain to visit the queen, and will he bring Lilibet—or the rest of the family—with him?
