Queen urges world leaders to create ‘safer future’ for planet in video message to COP26
The monarch was forced to cancel an in-person appearance after spending a night in hospital.
The Queen, 95, has addressed COP26 via a video message after cancelling a planned appearance due to illness.
Her Majesty urged world leaders to work together in ‘common cause’ to tackle climate change and ‘solve the most insurmountable problems’.
In a prerecorded message played during a welcoming reception for presidents and prime ministers, she hoped the summit’s legacy would be that they recognised ‘the time for words has now moved to the time for action’.
The Queen paid a heartfelt tribute to ‘my dear late husband’ the Duke of Edinburgh for his environmental awareness in raising the issue more than 50 years ago.
In a rare public expression of emotion, the monarch said the important role he played in encouraging people to look after the natural world was a ‘source of great pride’, and she ‘could not be more proud’ of the Prince of Wales and Duke of Cambridge who have continued his work.
Acknowledging her own mortality, the Queen, whose health has caused concern after she decided not to attend the Glasgow conference when advised by doctors to rest, said not all would benefit from the leaders’ actions as ‘none of us will live forever’.
But any determination to confront the planet’s environmental problems would benefit ‘our children’s children’.
Her message which was prerecorded on Friday at Windsor Castle.
The Queen pulled out of her in person appearance at the crucial climate conference in Glasgow after spending her first night in hospital in eight years in October.
Buckingham Palace tried to keep her hospital stay quiet but was forced to confirm it after it was leaked to the media.
It comes after she was overheard sharing her true feelings on climate change inaction while attending the opening of the Welsh parliament in Cardiff.
In a rare show of frustration, she said it was ‘irritating’ when ‘they talk, but they don’t do’.
The Queen said in her message played this evening: ‘In the coming days, the world has the chance to join in the shared objective of creating a safer, stabler future for our people and for the planet on which we depend.
‘None of us underestimates the challenges ahead: but history has shown that when nations come together in common cause, there is always room for hope. Working side by side, we have the ability to solve the most insurmountable problems and to triumph over the greatest of adversities.’
The head of state added: ‘I, for one, hope that this conference will be one of those rare occasions where everyone will have the chance to rise above the politics of the moment, and achieve true statesmanship.
‘It is the hope of many that the legacy of this summit – written in history books yet to be printed – will describe you as the leaders who did not pass up the opportunity; and that you answered the call of those future generations.
‘That you left this conference as a community of nations with a determination, a desire, and a plan, to address the impact of climate change; and to recognise that the time for words has now moved to the time for action.’
The Queen is said to have undergone medical tests after being exhausted by a heavy schedule.
Medics have advised her to rest for a further two weeks, although she has continued ‘light’ duties.
She was pictured driving alone across her Windsor estate in Berkshire on Monday morning.
The head of state was also filmed cracking a joke while awarding the Gold Medal for Poetry online last week.
She made attendees smile when she asked winner David Constantine: ‘I don’t know what you do with it. Do you put it in a cupboard?’
Her COP26 video address comes after her son Prince Charles made his own big speech at the event.
The heir to the throne had an awkward start to his appearance as he stumbled on the stairs.
But he went on to tell hundreds of delegates from around the world that a ‘vast military style campaign’ is needed to tackle environmental problems.
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