'We will meet again': Queen urges Britons to stay strong
From WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM
https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1246878646675083264
In a special broadcast, the monarch said we will overcome the coronavirus crisis if we ‘remain united and resolute’
The Queen has praised Britain’s “national spirit” in facing the challenge of coronavirus as she evoked wartime memories to reassure those “feeling a painful sense of separation from their loved ones” to take comfort in the fact: “We will meet again.”
In only the fifth special televised broadcast, other than Christmas messages, of her long reign, 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.
And she drew on the memories of her first broadcast to the nation some 80 years ago, when she and her sister, Margaret, made a radio broadcast for Children’s Hour.
Speaking with a picture from that first recording visible behind her, she said: “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 added: “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.”
The government hopes that an intervention from the Queen, planned in close consultation with Downing Street, will help to shore up public commitment to self-isolation guidelines amid fears that warmer weather could lead some to waver.
There had been speculation the Queen might broadcast on Easter Sunday. But it is understood that both Buckingham Palace and Downing Street ultimately agreed on Sunday night as the best moment to maximise the impact of her speech. A senior No 10 official said the palace and the prime minister, Boris Johnson, “have been speaking throughout” about the timing.
“The Queen is the best judge of when to talk to the country and we absolutely agree that now is the right time,” the official said. “We have asked the country to make huge sacrifices and life is very difficult at the moment for a great many people. Hearing from Her Majesty the Queen at this time is an important way of helping to lift the nation’s spirits.”
The Queen, 94 this month and in good health, recorded her message at Windsor Castle, where she and the Duke of Edinburgh, ... (Read more)
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