This year there is no annual Commonwealth celebration. But the royal family will deliver messages in a special program that the BBC will broadcast the same day as Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Due to the pandemic, Queen Elizabeth II has been forced to cancel a large number of official ceremonies, including one of the biggest events on the royal calendar: the Commonwealth Celebration. Instead, members of the royal family will deliver messages in a special program that the BBC will broadcast on March 7. On the same day, Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will be broadcast on CBS.
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A coincidence of the calendar? The Commonwealth celebration always takes place on the second Monday of March. Originally scheduled for Monday, March 8, it has been cancelled due to health measures. As the ceremony could not take place at Westminster Abbey, it will be replaced by this special program broadcast the day before and presented live from this place of worship, by Anita Rani. The programme includes music, readings from all over the Commonwealth, the participation of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Countess of Wessex and of course a message from the Queen.
A unique glimpse of the break with the royal family
As for the interview of Meghan Markle and Harry by Oprah Winfrey, it will be broadcasted on CBS at 8pm local time, 1am in the UK. The show was naturally filmed just before the Queen withdrew the couple’s royal patronage. In this exclusive interview delivered to their friend and neighbor Oprah Winfrey, Meghan Markle and Harry would give “a unique insight into the break-up with the royal family”.
Little Archie’s parents, who are expecting a second child, stripped of their last royal titles, seem determined not to make it so easy for the royal family. They have already indicated that they would like to take part in the ceremonies for Queen Elizabeth II’s 70th anniversary reign, scheduled for 2022. A real “puzzle” for the palace.
Last year’s celebration of the Commonwealth was marked by the icy reunion between the Sussex and the rest of the royal family in the midst of the Megxit crisis. This year, the day of celebration should not be easy either…
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