Queen Elizabeth II has travelled to Scotland for a week of traditional public engagements and celebrations.
The queen has mobility problems that have forced her to cancel many public appearances in 2022 and her presence in Scotland was not confirmed until Monday.
She will make personal appearances at some of the Scotland events but Prince Charles, heir to the throne, and her daughter Anne, Princess Royal, will stand in for her in others.
Prince Charles, known as the Earl of Rothesay in Scotland, and the Princess Royal will all take part in a series of public engagements over the coming days.
On Monday, the queen was in Edinburgh for the Ceremony of the Keys — the traditional opener to Holyrood week for the royals.
In the ceremony, the monarch was handed the keys of the Scottish capital and welcomed to her “ancient and hereditary kingdom of Scotland”.
She was joined by her youngest son, Edward, and his wife, Sophie, known as the Earl and Countess of Forfar while they are in Scotland, for the event, which is taking place at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
In May, royal officials said the queen would not attend this summer's royal garden parties at Buckingham Palace or Holyrood.
She spent an unscheduled night in hospital in October, forcing her to cancel a series of public engagements.
The Scotland trip comes after her platinum jubilee celebrations, when she pledged to continue to serve the country “to the best of my ability supported by my family”.
The four-day holiday included the Trooping the Colour parade, a church service at St Paul’s Cathedral, and an open-air concert at Buckingham Palace.
She was not able to attend the Epsom races during her jubilee week and she also did not appear at Ascot — a traditional royal event where fashion meets horse racing.
Queen Elizabeth has notched up a number of milestones in her record-breaking 70 years on the throne.
She has reigned for longer than any other monarch in British history.
The record was held by her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria, who reigned for 63 years, seven months and two days until 1901.
At 96, Queen Elizabeth is the oldest current monarch and head of state in the world.
Two kings have ruled for longer: France's Louis XIV for more than 72 years between 1643 and 1715 and Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej, who spent 70 years and four months on the throne until his death in October 2016.
Queen Elizabeth has travelled to more than 100 countries since 1952 — another record for a British monarch — and made more than 150 visits to Commonwealth countries.
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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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