Bridge the age gap: Queen Elizabeth II in her Xmas message

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2006

LONDON (AFP) — Queen Elizabeth II has called on people to bridge the generation gap between young and old as she delivered her annual Christmas message to Britain and the Commonwealth. In a pre-recorded speech, which was broadcast on television and radio Monday and for the first time this year as a podcast, the queen, 80, spoke of how parents, grandparents, the wider family and community all help children grow up.

But she said modern life was loosening familial ties and the traditional bonds between the generations. "The pressures of modern life sometimes seem to be weakening the links which have traditionally kept us together as families and communities," she said. "As children grow up and develop their own sense of confidence and independence in the ever-changing...