Queen: Now do your duty to beat Covid

DURING seven decades on the throne, it has been impossible to know conclusively what the Queen thinks on any major political and public issue. And rightly so.

Public trust in the monarchy – and in the country’s delicate constitutional balance – relies on such neutrality.

So when this woman of such wisdom does speak, her impeccably timed and perfectly calibrated words pack unequalled power.

And so it is with her regal pronouncement on vaccine sceptics and refuseniks: ‘They ought to think about other people rather than themselves.’

Yes, Elizabeth II’s message is rooted in her deep Christian faith.

But those who fail to have their Covid jabs, she suggests in this historic intervention, are acting selfishly – risking more harm to their fellow citizens.

After a year of living under restrictions, this is a time of unprecedented anxiety.

The vaccine is our passport to freedom. So far, 18.6million have been injected. The rollout has been an astonishing success.

But damagingly, a minority are declining inoculation. This risks fresh outbreaks, which could delay the return to normal life. The damage this might do to a nation at breaking point is unimaginable.

Of course, no one should be bullied into having jabs. But the Queen, who at 94 had hers weeks ago, seeks through her powerful broadside to persuade any waverers that their fears are unfounded.

When the longest-reigning monarch in our history speaks such sense, every single person should listen. She has spent a lifetime serving the nation – now the nation must do its duty.