For only the fourth time in history, Queen Elizabeth delivered a national address to the United Kingdom to talk about the Wuhan coronavirus and offer hope.
"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," she said during the address.
The Queen gave thanks to the National Health Service's (NHS), the UK's publicly funded health care system, and health care workers on the front lines. She also applauded those who decided to stay home and practice social distancing as a means of preventing the spread of the virus.
"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 Britains of this generation were as strong as any," the Queen said. "That the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet good-humored resolve and of fellow-feeling still characterize this country."
Queen Elizabeth reminded Britain about the stories that have come to light, of neighbors helping one another, workers continuing to deliver goods and medicines and businesses switching gears to help combat the virus.
"It reminds me of the very first broadcast I made, in 1940, helped by my sister. We, as children, spoke from here at Windsor to children who had been evacuated from their homes and sent away for their own safety," she explained. "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. While we have faced challenges before, this one is different."
"This time we join with all nations across the globe in a common endeavor, 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," the Queen said. "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."
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"But for now, I send my thanks and warmest good wishes to you all," she concluded.
“I want to reassure you that if we remain united and resolute then we will overcome it.” Queen Elizabeth gives a rare address to the UK, urging Britons to practice "self-discipline and resolve" in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. https://t.co/2MCOos5lKs pic.twitter.com/75GbsG8R3B
— CNN International (@cnni) April 5, 2020
The last time the Queen delivered a national address was in 2002 when Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother passed away. She also did one before Princess Diana's funeral in 1997 and one about the First Gulf War in 1991, NBC News reported.
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