Queen Elizabeth II and senior members of the British royal family — along with newcomer Meghan Markle, an American actress engaged to Prince Harry — attended a Christmas church service on Monday as a crowd of local residents gathered. Markle smiled and gave a brief wave in her first public appearance with the queen. She and Harry stopped to talk with several locals on their way back to the queen’s residence. The queen was joined by her husband, Prince Philip, and close family members including grandson Prince William and his wife, Kate, who is expected to give birth to the couple’s third child in the spring. Elizabeth, 91, and Philip, 96, missed last year’s church service because they had the flu, but they seemed in good health during Monday’s brief appearance. Elizabeth used her annual Christmas message to pay tribute to the way London and Manchester pulled together after extremist attacks earlier this year. The brief speech was televised on Christmas Day in the United Kingdom and the 51 other Commonwealth countries. The queen, seated at a desk in her study, praised Manchester, hit by a suicide bomber in May, and London, which endured attacks on Parliament, London Bridge and other landmarks. She said the cities’ “powerful identities shone through over the past 12 months in the face of appalling attacks.” The queen said it was her privilege to visit young survivors of the attack on a Manchester concert hall as they were recovering from the blast which claimed 22 lives. “I describe that hospital visit as a ‘privilege’ because the patients I met were an example to us all, showing extraordinary bravery and resilience,” Elizabeth said.
Lorde on Sunday cancelled a performance in Israel scheduled for next summer after appeals by pro-Palestinian activists. The New Zealand music star said in a statement that “the right decision at this time” was to cancel her June 2018 concert in Tel Aviv, which was announced earlier this month. Her announcement followed calls by proponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement to cancel her performance over Israel’s human-rights record. Lorde joins artists including Roger Waters, Lauryn Hill and Elvis Costello in boycotting Israel over its treatment of the Palestinians. Lorde said that after having “lots of discussions” about the matter, “I’m not too proud to admit I didn’t make the right call on this one,” referring to her initial decision to hold the concert.