Queen Elizabeth II acknowledged Saturday that the Christmas season “can be hard for those who have lost loved ones” while delivering her annual Christmas Day message for the first time since the death of her longtime husband, Prince Philip.
“This year especially, I understand why,” she said, adding that she takes comfort “from the warmth and affection of the many tributes to his life and work from around the country, the Commonwealth and the world.”
The queen delivered her speech next to a framed photograph taken in 2007, during her diamond wedding anniversary with Prince Philip, BBC News reported. She wore the same sapphire brooch that appeared in the photo, which she also wore during her honeymoon in 1947, the news network reported.
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“That mischievous, inquiring twinkle was as bright at the end as when I first set eyes on him,” she said in the message broadcast Saturday. “But life, of course, consists of final partings as well as first meetings, and as much as I and my family miss him, I know he would want us to enjoy Christmas.”
Prince Philip died at Windsor Castle in April, weeks after undergoing a heart procedure at a London hospital. In the spring, a service of thanksgiving for his life is planned at Westminster Abbey, according to BBC News.
On Saturday, Queen Elizabeth said that she and her family “felt his presence as we, like millions around the world, readied ourselves for Christmas.”
>> Related: Queen Elizabeth II cancels Christmas at Sandringham, will remain at Windsor Castle
She added that people who say Christmas is a time for children tell “only half the story.”
“Perhaps it’s truer to say that Christmas can speak to the child within us all,” she said. “Adults, when weighed down with worries, sometimes fail to see the joy in simple things where children do not. … For me and my family, even with one familiar laugh missing this year, there will be joy in Christmas as we have a chance to reminisce and see anew the wonder of the festive season through the eyes of our young children.”
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Officials with Buckingham Palace said this week that the queen would spend the holidays at Windsor Castle instead of traveling to her Sandringham estate. She has spent most of her time at the castle since the start of the pandemic, according to The Associated Press.
Queen Elizabeth has limited her travel and work since October, when doctors ordered her to rest after she spent a night in the hospital, the AP reported.
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