A GENERATION THAT’S ‘AS STRONG AS ANY’
As virus claims another 708 lives, including a child aged five, Queen urges Britons to make descendants proud and prove that we are...
THE Queen will tonight urge Britons to take pride in their response to the coronavirus crisis and to keep battling it in a way that will inspire future generations.
In a historic television address, the 93-year-old monarch will rally the nation for the next stage in the desperate fight against the disease.
It comes after it was confirmed that a fiveyear-old child with underlying health conditions was among 708 people who died from Covid-19 in the latest
daily tally – the highest so far. It brings the total number of confirmed deaths in the UK to 4,313, with almost 42,000 cases in all.
In tonight’s address, to the nation and parts of Commonwealth, the Queen will challenge all of us to act in a way to ensure those who follow say this generation was as strong as any of our forefathers.
In the broadcast recorded in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle, she will say: “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.”
In a faint echo of Sir Winston Churchill’s galvanising “finest hour” speech of 1940, she will appeal to her fellow countrymen’s sense of history in her typically understated way.
Speaking about how the nation has reacted to the pandemic so far, the Queen will say: “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 Queen, who will be 94 on April 21, will thank those on the NHS front line, care workers and others carrying out essential roles.
She will also recognise the pain already felt by many families and thank those who are following the official guidance to stay at home to protect the vulnerable.
Although she has been waiting for her ministers to advise her on the best moment to make an intervention during the crisis, her broadcast is a deeply personal message reflecting her experience in other difficult times, according to royal sources.
Her address, to be aired at 8pm, comes at the request of the Government.
It is only the fourth she has made in her 68-year reign in response to troubled times. She spoke about the first Gulf War in 1991, ahead of Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997, and after the Queen Mother’s death in 2002.
She also marked her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 with a televised address but that, like her Christmas broadcasts, was long planned.
In accordance with Government advice for the over-70s, she and Prince Philip, 98, have been staying in at Windsor Castle during the lockdown.
The broadcast was recorded by BBC Studios Events after advice from the Royal Medical Household on how to limit any risk to the Queen or others. The White Drawing Room was chosen because it was big enough to allow sufficient distance between the Queen and the sole camera operator, who was the only other person in the room, in personal protective equipment. The Queen speaks for four minutes and 15 seconds and although her style lacks Churchill’s rhetorical flourishes, her appeal to history evokes comparisons with the wartime prime minister’s speech in the House of Commons on June 18, 1940.
As the Germans came close to victory in the Battle of France following the British evacuation from Dunkirk, Churchill braced his country for the coming Battle of Britain. He concluded with the immortal words: “Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour’.”
Last week, Prince Charles offered his own message of hope when he recorded a video after coming out of isolation following a positive test for Covid-19.
Charles, 71, said: “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.” The Queen moved to Windsor Castle on March 19, after one of her staff at Buckingham Palace went down with the virus. All royal engagements are currently being conducted by phone or by video conference.
Her address will be broadcast on TV, radio and shown on the Royal Family’s social media channels. A Downing Street spokesman said now is the time to issue the morale-boosting message.
He added: “We’re two weeks into some very restrictive measures on the public. Sadly, we have also seen a significant number of deaths over the past week.
“We’ve always said that Her Majesty would be the best judge of the right time to speak to the nation but we agree that now is that moment.”
● The Pope has used a video message to criticise those exploiting the pandemic. He said: “In these painful times, people think of doing many good things.”