WE WILL MEET AGAIN
Queen evokes Vera Lynn in stirring message to nation
THE Queen last night urged the country to pull together to fight coronavirus, saying: ‘If we remain united and resolute, then we will overcome it.’
And she echoed Second World War heroine Dame Vera Lynn, promising anguished families separated by the crisis: ‘We will meet again.’
Her historic – and emotional – intervention is only the fifth time she has addressed the nation in a TV broadcast, apart from at Christmas, in her 67-year reign.
It was filmed on Thursday at Windsor Castle where she is in isolation with her husband, Prince Philip, 98.
In an unprecedented operation, a single cameraman entered the White Drawing Room wearing latex gloves and a surgical mask, standing more than the regulatory two metres from the 93-year-old monarch.
Aides said the four- and- ahalfminute address was ‘deeply personal’ and it was clear the Queen had been inspired by the speech her late father, George VI, made at the start of the Second World War when he warned of dark times ahead but hoped the British spirit would prevail.
Eighty- one years later his daughter, dressed in reassuringly familiar emerald green and pearls, said: ‘I am speaking to you at what I know is an increasingly challenging time. A time of disruption in the life of our country: A disruption that has brought grief to some, financial difficulties to many, and enormous changes to the daily lives of us all.
‘I hope in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge. And those who come after us will say the Britons of this generation were as strong as any. That the attributes of self- discipline, of quiet good-humoured resolve and of fellow-feeling still characterise this country.
‘The pride in who we are is not a part of our past, it defines our present and our future. ’
At various points during the broadcast there were video montages showing NHS frontline workers, delivery teams, volunteers, the Army working in the community during the construction of the Nightingale hospital, and clapping for carers, as well as a number of children holding rainbow pictures.
The Queen highlighted Government efforts to get people to stay at home to minimise the spread of Covid-19, stressing that it is only by pulling together that the country will win this new, insidious war.
‘I also want to thank those who are staying at home, thereby helping to protect the vulnerable and sparing many families the pain already felt by those who have lost loved ones,’ she said. ‘If we remain united and resolute, then we will overcome it.’
There was praise for the NHS heroes leading the battle against the virus, many while risking their own lives.
‘I want to thank everyone on the NHS front line, as well as care workers and those carrying out essential roles, who selflessly continue their day-to-day duties outside the home in support of us all. What you do is appreciated and every hour of your hard work brings us closer to a return to more normal times,’ she said.
Like the grandmother and great-grandmother she is, she noted the nationwide initiative of children drawing rainbows to put
‘A generation as strong as any’
in their windows as a sign of solidarity with the NHS and to inspire positivity, as well as what is becoming the Thursday night convention of clapping for the NHS.
‘The moments when the United Kingdom has come together to applaud its care and essential workers will be remembered as an expression of our national spirit; and its symbol will be the rainbows drawn by children,’ she said.
It is this spirit of community initiative, the Queen stressed, that will help see the nation through some of its darkest days since the Second World War – whether it be leaving meals for self-isolating neighbours or the hundreds of thousands who have signed up to become NHS volunteers.
As someone whose formative years were shaped by the war, it is fitting that the Queen harks back so much to the so- called Blitz spirit that characterised the inherent optimism of wartime Britain.
Referencing her first public broadcast, with her sister Princess Margaret, in 1940, she conjured up the image of young evacuees and likened it to the enforced separation many families are now facing.
She said: ‘It reminds me of the very first broadcast I made, in 1940, helped by my sister. We, as children, spoke from here at Windsor to children who had been evacuated from their homes and sent away for their own safety. Today, once again, many will feel a painful sense of separation from their loved ones. But now, as then, we know, deep down, that it is the right thing to do.
‘And though self-isolating may at times be hard, many people of all faiths, and of none, are discovering that it presents an opportunity to slow down, pause and reflect, in prayer or meditation.’
The Queen concluded by stressing that Britain was not alone and unity would help the world to fight a common enemy. ‘While we have faced challenges before, this one is different. This time we join with all nations across the globe in a common endeavour, using the great advances of science and our instinctive compassion to heal. We will succeed – and that success will belong to every one of us,’ she said.
It is here that she invoked Forces sweetheart Dame Vera Lynn, now 103, whose classic song We’ll Meet Again encapsulated the sense of loss, longing and hope of the 1940s.
She said: ‘We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: We will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again.’
Palace sources said the message was written by the monarch personally, with help from her senior aides, including her Private Secretary Edward Young, and reflected ‘her experiences in other difficult times’ – and hopes for the future. ■ Latest coronavirus video news, views and expert advice at mailplus.co.uk/coronavirus
‘A time to pause and reflect’