SUNDAY TIMES WEB DESK: Government ministers quickly interpreted the comments — a rare foray for the 92-year-old monarch into the political sphere — as broadly supportive of their desperate search for a compromise over Brexit.
With Britain in limbo just two months before the scheduled withdrawal from the EU on March 29, some lawmakers have been calling for the queen to intervene more forcefully and seek to reassure Britons who are worried about the future.
The queen appeared to do so obliquely in an address late on Thursday to members of the Women’s Institute (WI) near her Sandringham estate in eastern England — an association that she joined while still a princess in 1943.
“Of course, every generation faces fresh challenges and opportunities,” she said.
“As we look for new answers in the modern age, I for one prefer the tried and tested recipes, like speaking well of each other and respecting different points of view; coming together to seek out the common ground, and never losing sight of the bigger picture.
“To me, these approaches are timeless, and I commend them to everyone,” she said.
Her message comes amid intense argument in parliament about how to proceed on Brexit or whether to leave the European Union at all.