Queen’s pitch-perfect words remind us all how blessed we really are

OUR Queen’s ability to encapsulate the feelings of her nation is beyond competition or comparison. The monarch took to the airwaves last night, just as her father had 75 years ago to mark Victory in Europe Day, and she delivered words of comfort, strength and inspiration.

In 1945, at the age of 19, she stood beside Winston Churchill on the Buckingham Palace balcony and witnessed scenes of jubilation at the end of the conflict in Europe.

Throughout the war, Churchill demonstrated that a pitch-perfect speech can stiffen resolve and make hearts glow with courage. The Queen, now aged 94, shares his genius.

She declared that our streets are “not empty” but “filled with the love and the care that we have for each other”.

The Queen then bestowed an honour on her people. She told us, “We are still a nation those brave soldiers, sailors and airmen would recognise and admire.”

This is an extraordinary affirmation from a monarch who watched the transformation of Britain from a time of empire to the uncertainty of the present day.

That our country’s greatest qualities have endured is in no small part thanks to her splendid leadership.

She is a custodian of our values which she has exemplified and articulated anew for each generation. Having seen evil at its most abhorrent and destructive when the Nazis devastated Europe, she does not take our present peace for granted.

As she put it: “The wartime generation knew that the best way to honour those who did not come back from the war was to ensure that it didn’t happen again.”

During the war she trained as a driver and mechanic with the Auxiliary Territorial Service and the nation clutched her to its heart. She has a better grasp than any politician of how the UK is wired, and in the decades of her magnificent reign she has brought us wisdom, solace and pride.

We are blessed by her presence at the heart of national life.