A tense week for the Royals... and Sunak sets out terms
Harry and Meghan speak to Oprah as Queen celebrates Royal legacy and the Chancellor unveils a pandemic Budget. John Blow looks at the week ahead.
ROYAL REVELATIONS
THE DUKE and Duchess of Sussex will take part in an Oprah interview in the US – just hours after the Queen and senior members of the royal family appear in a special television programme celebrating the Commonwealth on Sunday.
The annual Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey has been cancelled this year for the first time in nearly half a century, because of the pandemic.
Instead the Queen is due to share her annual message in A Celebration For Commonwealth Day, broadcast on BBC One.
Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah Winfrey is being screened in a 90-minute special on CBS at 8pm in the US on Sunday, which will be in the early hours of Monday UK time.
Buckingham Palace last week confirmed Harry and Meghan would never return as working royals, and that the Queen had stripped them of their royal patronages and Harry of his honorary military roles.
Last year’s Commonwealth service, just weeks before England went into its first national lockdown, was Harry and Meghan’s final appearance before they quit royal duties and left to start their life in the US.
The Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of
Cambridge and the Countess of Wessex will also take part in the BBC show.
They will share their perspectives of the importance of the country’s Commonwealth links, the Abbey said.
BOUNCEBACK BUDGET?
THE CHANCELLOR of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, will announce the Budget on Wednesday.
Businesses and workers will be keen to see whether the Richmond MP, who has been in the role a year, makes any announcements on furlough pay.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week sidestepped calls from Labour to rule out tax rises for families and businesses. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer insisted “now is not the time” for tax increases given the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Recent reports suggested Mr Sunak is poised to extend the jobs furlough scheme and the stamp duty holiday until June to coincide with when Mr Johnson hopes to be able to lift all coronavirus restrictions. The Chancellor, according to the Daily Mail, could be preparing a relaunch of the summer’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme.
The paper said Treasury officials were also considering introducing vouchers for high street shoppers and bringing in lower alcohol duty for restaurants and pubs in recognition that the hospitality sector will continue to be impacted by restrictions until early summer.
The latter move would be coupled with higher levies on supermarket alcohol to help local traders, according to the Mail.
Tory former chancellor Philip Hammond, meanwhile, last week urged the Prime Minister to tell the public “some difficult home truths” ahead of the Budget. The ex-occupant of Number 11, who was a close ally of
Theresa May, also said the Government should ditch “very extravagant” promises from its manifesto.
MILITARY MILES
A YORKSHIRE war veteran who was blinded in Iraq is scheduled to start a walking challenge for charity today.
Simon Brown, from Morley, is walking the equivalent of Land’s End to John o’Groats as part of a national fundraising campaign by Blind Veterans UK.
Mr Brown, having joined the Army in 1997, completed three operational tours in Kosovo and Iraq, serving as a Corporal in the Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers. A sniper shot him in the face when he was trying to aid six fellow soldiers in a stranded vehicle in Basra on December 6, 2006.