Queen Elizabeth II sent a special Christmas message to British troops overseas yesterday, praising their courage.
"Our country asks a lot of you and your families," she said in a prerecorded Christmas Eve radio broadcast to Britain's military.
In only her second Christmas broadcast to military personnel in recent years, the queen says her thoughts and prayers are with the families of military personnel who were killed.
The UK has around 7,000 soldiers stationed in southern Iraq, mainly based around the city of Basra.
There are around 6,000 troops based in Afghanistan, the majority in the volatile southern province of Helmand where more than 30 soldiers have been killed since June in an escalation of violence.
"In Iraq and Afghanistan you continue to make an enormous contribution in helping to rebuild those countries and in other operational theaters you undertake essential duties with a professionalism which is so highly regarded the world over," the monarch said.
"Your courage and loyalty are not lightly taken. It is a pledge which calls for sacrifice and devotion to duty. And I know that yours is a job which often calls for great personal risk," she said.
"This year men and women from across the armed forces have lost their lives in action in both Iraq and Afghanistan. My thoughts and prayers are with their families and friends, especially at this Christmas season," the monarch said.
The Queen, whose husband and children have all got ties with the military, has seen her grandsons Princes William and Harry graduate in recent years as junior officers in the army.
"Throughout my life my relationship with the Armed Forces has been marked by my admiration and deep respect for everything you strive to achieve on behalf of all of us," the queen said.
"My father King George VI said that `the highest of distinctions is service to others.' There is no higher goal. Your service to our country is, I believe, an outstanding example of that ideal. I am grateful to you all," she said.
"I wish you, and your families, a happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year," she added.
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
ESPIONAGE: The British government’s decision on the proposed embassy hinges on the security of underground data cables, a former diplomat has said A US intervention over China’s proposed new embassy in London has thrown a potential resolution “up in the air,” campaigners have said, amid concerns over the site’s proximity to a sensitive hub of critical communication cables. The furor over a new “super-embassy” on the edge of London’s financial district was reignited last week when the White House said it was “deeply concerned” over potential Chinese access to “the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” The Dutch parliament has also raised concerns about Beijing’s ideal location of Royal Mint Court, on the edge of the City of London, which has so