C’wealth’s heart-warming stories praised by Queen

London, April 6: Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II made a special reference to heart-warming stories coming out of different parts of the world, including the Commonwealth, during her historic address as a rallying call for resilience during the Covid19 pandemic which has killed nearly 70,000 people worldwide. The 93-yearold monarch, who is also Head of the 54-nation Commonwealth, referred to the very British “attributes of self-discipline, of quiet good-humoured resolve and of fellow-feeling” as she made a wider global callout to say that in the years to come, everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to the Covid-19 challenge.

“Across the Commonwealth and around the world, we have seen heart-warming stories of people coming together to help others, be it through delivering food parcels and medicines, checking on neighbours, or converting businesses to help the relief effort,” she said during her speech, pre-recorded at Windsor Castle and broadcast on television and radio on Sunday evening.

“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,” she said.

The Queen went down memory lane as she recalled the very first broadcast of the kind she had made as a young princess at the time in 1940 alongside her sister, Princess Margaret, during World War II. “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,” she said.

“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.