“ ‘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.’ ”
That’s Queen Elizabeth, in only the fifth televised address of her 68-year reign, offering reassurance and urging resolve as the coronavirus continues to spread in the U.K. and around the world.
“Together we are tackling this disease, and I want to reassure you that if we remain united and resolute, then we will overcome it,” she said in a message from her Windsor Castle.
“While we have faced challenges before, this one is different,” she continued. “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 also said that the crisis reminded her of her first ever televised address back in 1940, also at Windsor, in the wake of the bombing raids at the hands of Nazi Germany.
Here’s the full video:
Just hours before the queen’s broadcast, officials reported deaths in Britain, which is locked down like much of Europe, had risen by 621 in the past 24 hours to 4,934, with the worst yet to come next week. Health minister Matt Hancock said, according to Reuters, that even stricter riles might be imposed if the current rules to stop the spread aren’t adequately followed.
“The pride in who we are is not a part of our past, it defines our present and our future,” the queen said in a speech that was mostly met with open arms across the internet:
