Rare address is only the fourth

The Queen’s televised address to the nation amid the coronavirus pandemic is only the fourth of her 68-year-reign during times of national crisis and grief. While she broadcasts a recorded message each year on Christmas Day, special addresses from the monarch in troubled periods are rare.

There have been three previous speeches broadcast – after the Queen Mother’s death in 2002, ahead of Diana, Princess of Wales’s funeral in 1997 and about the First Gulf War in 1991.

Amid celebratory times, the Queen made a televised address to mark her Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

The Queen Mother’s death

Eighteen years ago, on the eve of her mother’s funeral, the Queen thanked the country for their support and the “love and honour” shown to the Queen Mother.

Diana, Princess of Wales’s death

The Queen also spoke to the nation in 1997 on the eve of the funeral for Diana, Princess of Wales. When the Queen initially remained at Balmoral to comfort her grandsons Princes William and Harry, the newspaper headlines screamed: “Show us you care” and “Where is our Queen? and “Where is her flag?”.

The Queen had been due to pre-record her message, but in an unprecedented move for a royal broadcast of this kind, it was decided she should deliver it live. Dressed in black, she said she was speaking from her heart as both the nation’s Queen and as a grandmother as she paid tribute to Diana.

The Gulf War

In February 1991, the Queen recorded a brief televised address to the nation during the Gulf War.

It came as the allied land offensive began against Iraqi forces occupying Kuwait.

The Queen called on people to unite and pray that the Armed Forces’ success would be as “swift as it is certain”.