The Queen’s Christmas Day message, which will be broadcast across the Commonwealth at 1500 GMT today, will highlight the poppy installation at the Tower of London and those who treated Ebola victims in Africa.
Military charities received millions of pounds after over 100,000 people bought £25 ceramic flowers from the Tower of London’s sea of poppies.
The Queen will say that the poppy installation at the Tower was “a reminder of the grief of loved ones left behind.”
She will also say how deeply touched she has been by people who treated people infected with the Ebola virus in Africa. Her speech was recorded earlier in December at Buckingham Palace.
The Queen and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Philip) visited the poppy installation in October, called Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red.
The Queen will focus on the poppy installation and the efforts to stem the Ebola epidemic.
The installation included 888,246 ceramic poppies, each one representing a British and Colonial soldier who died in World War I. The display remained there until Armistice Day (Nov 11).
The Queen will say:
“The ceramic poppies at the Tower of London drew millions, and the only possible reaction to walking among them was silence.”
“For every poppy, a life; and a reminder of the grief of loved ones left behind.”
A sea of red – one poppy for each soldier who died in WWI.
Regarding the Ebola epidemic, she will say:
“I have been deeply touched this year by the selflessness of aid workers and medical volunteers who have gone abroad to help victims of conflict or of diseases like Ebola, often at great personal risk.”
