Queen Elizabeth acknowledged that 2019 has been a bumpy year for the royal family. Amid their struggles in the spotlight, however, Her Majesty is grateful for the birth of baby Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, the son of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
In her televised speech for Christmas Day, Queen Elizabeth singled out the Sussex family and said that she has been delighted to welcome her eighth great-grandchild. The broadcast even featured the photo taken days after Archie was born, as the proud parents, Prince Harry and Meghan, introduced their son to Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip.
In talking about Archie, Queen Elizabeth segued into the heart of the story of the Christmas, which is the birth of baby Jesus Christ. Her Majesty also said that the path Jesus took was hardly smooth and quite bumpy as well but He made a huge difference in the world amid people's differences and deep-seated divisions.
Queen Elizabeth gave her blessings for Prince Harry and Meghan to celebrate Archie's first Christmas in the United States with Doria Ragland, Meghan's mother. The Sussex family are also spending the rest of their six-week break with close friends in Canada, where Meghan lived for close to seven years as a former TV star.
It's been alleged that Prince Harry and Meghan decided not to join the royal family this Christmas because of the Duke of Sussex's growing rift with his brother Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge. The division between the sons of Prince Charles and Princess Diana made headlines this year that royal observers allude it has been one of Queen Elizabeth's challenges.
The Queen's speech also comes a few weeks after Prince Andrew confirmed he was stepping down from his royal duties. After his trainwreck interview with BBC, where he clarified his friendship with the disgraced billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, Prince Andrew was removed from the patronage of hundreds of organizations that worked with the royal family.
According to the Telegraph, 2019 could be regarded as another "annus horribilis" for Queen Elizabeth. It started with her husband's car crash in January and it also ended with his hospitalization in December. In between, the Queen dealt with alleged rows between Prince William and Harry, and their wives, as well as Prince Andrew's sex scandal.
The Queen's Christmas Day speech was filmed a head of the celebrations at Windsor Castle's Green Drawing Room. Queen Elizabeth wore a royal blue cashmere dress while photos of her family from 2019 were displayed in the background.
