Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is set to make a TV appearance for Commonwealth Day, which will air hours before Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Oprah Winfrey interview on March 7. Getty Images
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is set to make a TV appearance for Commonwealth Day, which will air hours before Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Oprah Winfrey interview on March 7. Getty Images
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is set to make a TV appearance for Commonwealth Day, which will air hours before Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Oprah Winfrey interview on March 7. Getty Images
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is set to make a TV appearance for Commonwealth Day, which will air hours before Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Oprah Winfrey interview on March 7. Getty Images

The National

Queen Elizabeth to appear on UK TV hours before Meghan and Harry's Oprah interview

The monarch will make a pre-recorded address for Commonwealth Day

Farah Andrews
Farah Andrews
Dubai

February 23, 2021

  • English
  • Arabic

Queen Elizabeth II is scheduled to make a television appearance just hours before Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Oprah Winfrey interview is aired on US TV.

The 90-minute "tell-all" special with the couple is set to air on Sunday, March 7, at 8pm EST (Monday, March 8 at 5am GST). A matter of hours before, the monarch will appear on British TV to give her Commonwealth Day address. In 2021, the annual celebration of the Commonwealth of Nations falls on Monday, March 8.

Typically, the Commonwealth Day service is held at Westminster Abbey, however this year measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 mean the church service has been cancelled and replaced with the BBC special.

The show will feature a number of members of the royal family, including Prince Charles, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, along with the queen, who will appear with a message pre-recorded from Windsor Castle.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales attend the Commonwealth Day Service 2020 on March 9, 2020 in London, England. Getty Images
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales attend the Commonwealth Day Service 2020 on March 9, 2020 in London, England. Getty Images

Notably, Harry and Meghan's last public appearance as working members of the royal family was at the Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey in 2020, held on March 9.

Harry and Meghan attend virtual Spotify event 

Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan are keeping up with their virtual appearances, and have made their first one since announcing that they are expecting a second child on Valentine's Day.

The couple made a surprise appearance from the comfort of their California home at Spotify's Stream On event on Monday.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle speak during the Spotify Steam On virtual conference. YouTube / Spotify
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle speak during the Spotify Steam On virtual conference. YouTube / Spotify

During a segment on podcasting, they spoke around the 38-minute mark during the video conference, played in by Borns' Electric Love.

"We're using podcasting to drive powerful conversations..." Meghan opened by saying, and Harry continued, "...that inspire, challenge and educate."

The pair launched Archewell Audio in 2020 and are creating podcasts exclusively for Spotify.

"We created Archewell Audio to ensure that we can elevate voice that maybe aren't being heard ... and to hear people's stories," Meghan said.

Harry added: "And the biggest part of this is to create this community of where you can share, that will encourage everybody else to then share their own vulnerabilities within that safe space."

For the appearance, Meghan wore a blue lemon-print Oscar de la Renta drop-waisted dress, while Harry kept it simple in a white shirt and dark jeans.

The Spotify Stream On event also included appearances from Brene Brown, Billie Eilish, Blackpink and a performance from Justin Bieber. Watch the full event here:

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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