Royal adelaide

Queen Elizabeth II is encouraging people to get the COVID-19 vaccine, with the 94-year-old British monarch describing the process as “quite harmless, very quick.” She praised the U.K.’s national vaccination campaign during a video call with health officials released on Friday, comparing the massive effort to the way people banded together during World War II. “Well, once you’ve had the vaccine you have a feeling of, you know, you’re protected, which is, I think, very important,” the queen said. “And as far as I can make out it was quite harmless, very quick. And I’ve had lots of letters from people who’ve been very surprised by how easy it was to get the vaccine.” ADVERTISEMENT The Queen has spoken to health officials leading the deployment of the COVID-19 vaccine across the four nations of the UK. pic.twitter.com/Cululfsh4y — The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) February 25, 2021 The queen and her husband, Prince Philip , 99, received their first dose of the … [Read more...] about Queen Elizabeth encourages COVID vaccinations, says it’s ‘quite harmless’

British royal Prince Philip is "responding to treatment" for an undisclosed infection not related to COVID-19 while being hospitalized, NBC News reports . "He is comfortable and responding to treatment but is not expected to leave hospital for several days," Buckingham Palace said in a statement to the news outlet. The 99-year-old monarch was admitted to London's King Edward VII's Hospital as a "precautionary measure" based on advice from his doctor on Feb. 16. ADVERTISEMENT "He's a lot better," Prince Edward, Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II's youngest son, told Sky News of his father's condition. He added, "He's looking forward to getting out, which is the most positive thing." Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, spent a four-night stint in the hospital in December 2019 while undergoing treatment of an unknown pre-existing condition, NBC News notes. Both Prince Philip and the queen received their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccinations in early … [Read more...] about 99-year-old Prince Philip ‘responding’ to treatment in hospital

Buckingham Palace announced Saturday that Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh have both been inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine, the BBC reported. The Queen and Prince Philip received the shots on Saturday at Windsor Castle, putting them among the nearly 1.5 million U.K. residents who have gotten at least the first dose of the vaccine since its rollout, the BBC reported. The royal pair, who are both in their 90s, are also included in Britain's high-priority group of citizens age 80 and over who have been first to receive the vaccine. ADVERTISEMENT The BBC, citing a source close to the royals, reported that the Queen decided to allow the public to know about her vaccination in an attempt to end further speculation. During 2020, the Queen spent seven months without making public appearances outside the palace. The outlet reported that her oldest son, Prince Charles, and her grandson Prince William both tested positive for the coronavirus during that time. … [Read more...] about Queen, Prince Philip receive COVID-19 vaccine

Stepping back for a moment from the tension between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia over the role of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi , what are the fundamentals of the relations between our nation and theirs? What should they be, and what could they be? For decades, defining the relationship boiled down to the simple adage of oil for security: “You supply the world with oil. We will provide you with security.” In those days, the threats to the kingdom came from the Arab nationalism of former president Gamal Abdel Nasser’s Egypt, Iraq and Syria, rather than Iran, then still ruled by Mohammad Reza Shah. Things changed with the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the Arab oil embargo , which prompted a dramatic price increase. (The architect, Saudi oil minister Ahmed Zaki Yamani, died this week .) We quickly learned that the oil part of the deal meant “oil at reasonable prices,” and there was little agreement on the definition of … [Read more...] about For better or worse: Which way will US-Saudi relations go under Biden?

This month, Britain and Japan, the two most powerful offshore island nations on the Eurasian continent, undertook to strengthen a special relationship that they established over a century ago. In January 1902, the two countries agreed to a formal alliance, an arrangement whose scope was twice expanded, first in 1905 and again in 1911. The alliance’s objective was clear: They sought to contain Russian expansion in China. The current agreement again focuses on those countries, though it is China, rather than Russia, that the British and Japanese view as the primary threat to their security. The earlier treaties specifically provided for mutual defense, which led to Japan’s entering World War I on the side of the Allies. The current agreement does not go that far, but it does echo similar sentiments. Britain’s foreign and defense secretaries, Dominic Raab and Ben Wallace, and their Japanese counterparts, Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, announced … [Read more...] about Britain is back in Asia, sending a message to Beijing