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Queen joins video call after Meg bombshell She jokes about meeting space pioneer
THE Queen put some space between herself and the Meghan royal race row yesterday - by cracking a joke about meeting the first man to fly into orbit, Yuri Gagarin.
Determined to show it was business as usual, she took part in a video call with scientists, teachers and schoolchildren to mark British Science Week.
Her Majesty, 94, spoke of the importance of technology for connecting people and protecting us from Covid-19.
And after a dismal week in which the royals were accused of racism and abandoning Meghan while she was pregnant, she got a laugh recalling her 1961 encounter with cosmonaut Gagarin.
Asked by scientist Dr Maggie AderinPocock what he was like, the Queen abruptly quipped: “Russian!” She went on to add: “He didn’t speak English. But he was fascinating. And I suppose, being the first, it was particularly fascinating.”
Prince William became the first royal to tackle allegations of racism in his family on Thursday. It follows brother Harry’s claim that a senior royal questioned how “dark” his children may be.
William told reporters during a school visit: “We’re very much not a racist family.” The Queen has said the family will privately deal with a raft of devastating claims made by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in their interview with Oprah Winfrey.
She is expected to call personally in the coming weeks.
On yesterday’s video call Dr AderinPocock, a co-presenter on the BBC’s The Sky At Night, said of Gagarin: “It must
Harry have been very terrifying to be the first one, and not really knowing what was going to happen.” The Queen said: “Well, yes – and if you could come back again.”
She added: “This past year has really driven home the importance of science and technology in all of our lives, from the search for the vaccine, the rollout to the public, to the technology that enables all of us in different locations across the UK to gather and speak.”
Her Majesty was also shown updates from NASA’s Perseverance mission, and said Mars looked “very rock strewn”.
Prince Phillip, 99, is likely to spend a fourth weekend in hospital after treatment for a heart condition.
He had surgery on March 3, and is at London’s King Edward VII’s Hospital.
The couple, married for 73 years, had their first Covid jabs in January.
COVID-19 survivors are demanding ministers give a fair pay deal to NHS staff who saved them.
It comes amid reports the Government may increase its paltry 1% pay proposal after a huge backlash but only to between 2% and 3%.
Given inflation could be up to 2% by the end of the year, the current 1% plan would be a real-terms pay cut.
The first baby born in the NHS, in 1948, told the Mirror the offer is “a slur and an insult to our caregivers”.
Aneira Thomas, now 72, was named after Labour’s NHS founder Aneurin Bevan. She said: “This pay decision backtracks on all this
Government said during the pandemic about how ‘wonderful’ our NHS is. Praise isn’t going to pay the bills.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer has backed a higher pay rise, with 2.1% as its “starting point”.
However PM Boris Johnson, himself saved by the NHS, insists 1% is “as much as we possibly can offer”.
The NHS Pay Review Body will give its recommendation in May, before MPs decide.
Here we talk to some of those with very personal reasons for wanting a better deal for our healthcare heroes...