Prince Charles hails ‘emergency service’ efforts of the nation’s shelf-stackers
Video address made after recovery from mild virus symptoms also hails hard work on the NHS frontline
THE Prince of Wales has hailed supermarket shelf-stackers as Britain’s newest “emergency service”, as he praised workers “toiling as hard as they can” to keep the nation running.
The Prince, who has just emerged from self-isolation after contracting a mild dose of coronavirus, said shop workers were busy day and night keeping people fed in a “profoundly challenging situation”.
Also paying tribute to the “utter, selfless devotion to duty” of NHS staff, volunteers and key workers around the country, he spoke of the “strange, frustrating and often distressing” experience of self-isolation.
The Prince added that those fighting on the frontline to save the nation from Covid-19 must be treated with “special consideration”, making it “clearly essential” that they are able to shop after finishing their “exhausting duties”, all the while worrying about their own families.
In a video message recorded at the royal estate of Birkhall in Scotland for Age UK, he spoke of his gratitude to the “truly wonderful neighbours, individuals and groups of volunteers who are providing ceaseless care and attention to those most at risk” in support of the “hard-pressed professional services”.
And in a rallying cry to the nation, he said that the current situation “must end” at some point, urging the public to “look forward to better times to come”.
“Having recently gone through the process of contracting this coronavirus... I now find myself on the other side of the illness, but still in no less a state of social distance and general isolation,” he said.
“As we are all learning, this is a strange, frustrating and often distressing experience when the presence of family and friends is no longer possible and the normal structures of life are suddenly removed.
“My wife and I are thinking particularly of all those who have lost their loved ones in such very difficult and abnormal circumstances, and of those having to endure sickness, isolation and loneliness. As Patron of Age UK, and my wife the Patron of Silver Line, our hearts go out to all those older people throughout this country who are now experiencing great difficulty.”
Speaking from his home at Birkhall, where he spent a week in self-isolation after testing positive for coronavirus last Monday, the prince added:. “It has been so wonderful to see just how many across the UK have signed up in their hundreds of thousands to be NHS volunteers, offering their help to do whatever they can to provide support
‘Our hearts go out to all those older people throughout this country who are now experiencing great difficulty’
to those on the frontline.
“It is clearly essential, therefore, that such key people are treated with special consideration when coming off their exhausting duties and trying to do their shopping, for instance, while having to contend with constant anxiety about their own families and friends.
“In this regard, we also think of all those many shop workers who are toiling as hard as they can throughout each and every night to keep supermarket shelves stocked – a further ‘emergency service’ on which we are all relying.
“As a nation, we are faced by a profoundly challenging situation, which we are only too aware threatens the livelihoods, businesses and welfare of millions of our fellow citizens.
“None of us can say when this will end, but end it will. Until it does, let us all try and live with hope and, with faith in ourselves and each other, look forward to better times to come.”