PAYING A TOUCHING TRIBUTE TO HER LATE HUSBAND

HER POIGNANT CHRISTMAS SPEECH LOOKS FORWARD TO A 2022 OF ‘TOGETHERNESS’

Her “strength and stay” is so clearly in her thoughts as the Queen delivers her Christmas broadcast beside a photo of her with her husband the Duke of Edinburgh taken on their diamond 51 wedding anniversary; she also wears a treasured brooch visible in the same picture

‘For me and my family, even with one familiar laugh missing this year, there will be joy’

The Queen paid a touching tribute to her late husband in her Christmas broadcast as it was announced that the Duke of Edinburgh’s life is to be celebrated with a special service at Westminster Abbey.

In a deeply personal speech to the nation, Her Majesty spoke of the death of “my beloved Philip” and told how she had “felt his presence” as she and her family prepared for Christmas.

She also told how she had found comfort in the tributes that had poured in from around the world and said that the youngest members of her family – including four new arrivals – would help her find joy at Christmas, “even with one familiar laugh missing this year”.

More than nine million people across Britain tuned in to the 3pm broadcast on Christmas Day, which was pre-recorded in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle. Sitting in front of an illuminated Christmas tree, the Queen gave a nod to the festive season in a red wool Angela Kelly shift dress, accessorised with a piece of jewellery with particularly sentimental history. It was the same sapphire and diamond chrysanthemum brooch she wore for a photo on her honeymoon in 1947. Poignantly, it was also visible in a framed photo of her and Prince Philip taken in 2007 at their honeymoon location, Broadlands country house in Hampshire, to mark their diamond wedding anniversary.