Yes Ma'am, we all need to 'think about other people'

It’s not often that Her Majesty The Queen says something, but when she does speak people tend to sit up and listen. I mean how couldn’t you? She’s a seemingly ever present symbol of the collective British consciousness, whatever your views on the Royal Family may be — and we’ll get to that.
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“Think about other people”, were the sage words spoken by The Queen on vaccine hesitancy and her own experience when it came to getting the jab herself. Spoiler alert: “It didn’t hurt at all”.

We’ve had various politicians and public figures speaking out on the importance of the vaccine in recent weeks. We’ve even been fortunate enough to have witnessed various highly produced persuasion advertorials… which certain pockets of social media were quick to brand as vaccine propaganda. But there’s a trend for bashing everything at the moment - a sign of frustration, I suppose.

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Whatever your take on things, once The Queen speaks, ‘we’ (the collective) always tend to pause for a moment, take in what she says and believe in her.

SALISBURY, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 15: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II  (Photo by Ben Stansall - WPA Pool/Getty Images)SALISBURY, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 15: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II  (Photo by Ben Stansall - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
SALISBURY, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 15: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (Photo by Ben Stansall - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

She always talks with an air of empathetic authority, cognisant of the hesitancy in some, yet never demanding in her tone. It is almost as if she knows that she will lull many of the remaining naysayers into actually going out and getting the jab.

What is clear is that she seems to have a much better knack of convincing the masses than other efforts up till now. In short, she’s right… consider the impact on others of not having the vaccine, and that is the main driver when it comes to deciding on what you wish to do.

It's not often Her Majesty will touch on things that have an air of the political to them but in this instance, she has certainly done the right thing, for the right reasons and with the correct level of understanding of how the wider populace may be feeling - much better than some of the politicians at least. And, that's not a slight in the slightest (sic). It's the truth.

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While we’re on the topic of The Royals, Prince Harry is back in the news again. In what’s been branded as a ‘candid’ interview he spoke about why he’d stepped down from Royal duties and his family's move to America. It wasn’t 'candid' though, it was just honest and understandable. The levels of hate, vitriol and questionable motives when it comes to writing about Prince Harry and Meghan are worrying, demeaning and divisional. Who wouldn't want to be in a different place with a much more positive headspace? That's not Hollywood, that's just real life. If something is continually affecting you, bringing you down - you have to remove that or yourself from the situation. He did and he should be applauded for it, not derided.

Everyone has an opinion on Prince Harry and Meghan, ranging from ‘not bothered’ (but telling everyone they’re ‘not bothered’ to the point of seeming ‘very bothered’), to the ones who feel Meghan has poisoned Harry’s mind, those who defend the two and then those who feel Prince Harry has disgraced the Royal Family. And, let’s not get started on some of the hot takes in the media. One national newspaper began it’s piece calling Prince Harry a ‘Netflix employee'. If that’s not toxic and a reason to get away and do his own thing with his own family, I don’t know what is.

He is a public servant, he always will be (his words, not mine) but he’s also a person. The media owns neither him nor his family. Just let him do his thing, figure out the best way forward for him and maybe then we can judge him on his actions. Ultimately, we should just be happy for someone daring to forge their own path. Life is after all what we make it, right?