Queen warns we must keep in touch with family to 'transcend division' in Commonwealth Day message

The Queen signs her annual Commonwealth Day Message in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle - PA
The Queen signs her annual Commonwealth Day Message in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle - PA

The Queen has stressed the importance of keeping in touch with family to “transcend boundaries or division” in her annual Commonwealth Day message.

Her Majesty, 94, focused on a message of unity, describing how the global impact of the coronavirus pandemic had created a “deeper appreciation” of the need to connect to others.

It came as the world awaited the explosive revelations made by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in their Oprah Winfrey interview, as the Royal family braced itself for the damaging fallout.

The Queen will not watch the controversial interview, which is being broadcast by CBS in the US at 1am UK time, but will receive a full breakfast briefing from aides in the morning.

The audio message celebrated collaboration, but it stood in contrast to the troubles facing the monarch's family.

The Duchess of Sussex, 39, is expected to claim she felt silenced by "The Firm" and unprotected.

Senior royals including the Prince of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge joined forces to appear in a special BBC One programme to mark Commonwealth Day, broadcast on the BBC on Sunday just hours before the two-hour Oprah television special.

The Queen used her annual message, below, to highlight the “friendship, spirit of unity and achievements” around the world and the benefits of working together in the fight against the virus.

“The testing times experienced by so many have led to a deeper appreciation of the mutual support and spiritual sustenance we enjoy by being connected to others,” she said.

She also praised the “selfless dedication to duty” seen across the Commonwealth, particularly on the front line.

As footage was played of the Queen’s numerous official video calls, she acknowledged that the innovative technology “has been new to some of us, with conversations and communal gatherings, including Commonwealth meetings, conducted online, enabling people to stay in touch with friends, family, colleagues, and counterparts who they have not been able to meet in person.

She said: “Increasingly, we have found ourselves able to enjoy such communication as it offers an immediacy that transcends boundaries or division, helping any sense of distance to disappear.

“We have all continued to appreciate the support, breadth of experiences and knowledge that working together brings.”

She praised the “selfless dedication to duty” of medical staff and other key workers.

“Whilst experiences of the last year have been different across the Commonwealth, stirring examples of courage, commitment, and selfless dedication to duty have been demonstrated in every Commonwealth nation and territory, notably by those working on the frontline, who have been delivering health care and other public services in their communities,” she said.

Harry and Meghan were accused of being disrespectful to the monarch’s own life of duty when their permanent Megxit departure was finalised two weeks ago, with their camp saying, in what was seen as a parting shot: “We can all live a life of service. Service is universal.”

The message, pre-recorded at Windsor, was accompanied by new footage of the Queen filmed last week at the castle, where she has been staying in lockdown.

The monarch, dressed in an Angela Kelly delphinium blue dress and jacket, is seen walking through the grand St George’s Hall, which was lined with Commonwealth flags.

She is flanked, socially distanced, by her Master of the Household Vice Admiral Sir Tony Johnstone-Burt and her assistant private secretary Matthew Magee, who form part of the Queen’s HMS Bubble of reduced staff, and who were both smiling broadly.

The Queen then sits at an ornate desk in the middle of the hall and signs her Commonwealth Day message.

On her jacket is the sapphire chrysanthemum brooch which she wore in a photograph to mark her 73rd wedding anniversary with the Duke of Edinburgh in November.

Played over a montage of footage from around the Commonwealth, the message was in part reminiscent of the Queen’s Christmas Day broadcasts.

The one-off BBC show was arranged after the annual Commonwealth Day event at Westminster Abbey was cancelled this year due to the Covid-19 crisis.

Last year’s service in the central London church was the scene of Harry and Meghan’s final official engagement as senior royals before they quit the working monarchy.

They had been hailed as the new stars of the Commonwealth after pledging to work with the association throughout their lives.

In the programme, the Prince of Wales was featured standing alone in the Abbey, where his youngest son performed his last public duty and where they were last seen publicly together, as he delivered a speech.

The Prince said the pandemic had affected every country “cruelly robbing countless people of their lives and livelihoods”, but praised how people responded with “extraordinary determination, courage and creativity”.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were filmed making video calls to medical, charity and voluntary staff in South Africa, Bangladesh and Malaysia, while the Countess of Wessex spoke to three women from around the Commonwealth ahead of International Women’s Day.

The Duchess of Cornwall was interviewed by Clare Balding in the Abbey’s Poets’ Corner about the importance of reading for children during a disrupted year of education.

The bulk of the programme was filmed inside the Abbey, and presented by broadcaster Anita Rani, with musical performances throughout, and prayers by the Dean of Westminster.