In a Christmas message dominated by the September 11 attacks on the US, Queen Elizabeth II spoke of the healing effects of the various world’s faiths and the need to break down the barriers between them. While she also focused on the troubles endured by Britain over the last 12 months, including the devastating floods and the foot and mouth epidemic, it was the terrorist attacks and such horrors which she suggested Christianity and other faiths could help the world come to terms with.
“All the major faiths tell us to give support and hope to others in distress,” she said. Against a background of clips from the St Paul’s remembrance service following the disaster, she said: “It is to the church that we turn to give meaning to these moments of intense human experience through prayer, symbol and ceremony.”
“In these circumstances, so many of us, whatever our religion, need our faith more than ever to sustain and guide us. Every one of us needs to believe in the value of all that is good and honest; we need to let this belief drive and influence our actions.”
The British monarch also spoke of the need to feel part of a community. “A sense of belonging to a group, which has in common the same desire for a fair and ordered society, helps to overcome differences and misunderstanding by reducing prejudice, ignorance, and fear.”
“We have something to learn from one another,” she went on to say. “Whatever our faith – be it Christian or Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, or Sikh – whatever our background.” The message, recorded earlier in the week at Buckingham Palace, was broadcast on Christmas Day. On Christmas morning, the Queen joined the rest of the royal family for a traditional Christmas Day service at Sandringham. While the Queen Mother, still recovering from a cold, and Princess Margaret stayed away, a rather pale and wan-looking Sophie attended the church service. The Countess, who usually joins the other members of the family for the short stroll to St Mary Magdalen Church on the estate but is still recovering from emergency surgery following an ectopic pregnancy, accompanied the Queen in her Rolls-Royce. She did, however, manage a brilliant smile for well-wishers gathered outside the church.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Still recovering from the effects of an ectopic preganancy suffered earlier in the month, Sophie accompanied the Queen to church in the British monarch's Rolls-Royce
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Princess Anne and Queen Elizabeth share a smile as they gather the flowers presented to them by well-wishers waiting outside the church
Photo: © Alphapress.com
The Countess of Wessex slipped her arm through that of her husband, Prince Edward, for support. It was her first public appearance since undergoing treatment for an ectopic pregnancy in early December
