Published 09:28 IST, April 6th 2020
Queen Elizabeth emerges to send a message to Covid-stricken UK; leaves subjects shocked
In a rare address to the nation, the 93-year-old Queen acknowledged the suffering that many families have experienced because of the COVID-19 crisis.
In a rare address to the nation, the 93-year-old Queen acknowledged the suffering that many families have experienced because of the COVID-19 crisis, which has infected more than 47,806 people in the United Kingdom and led to the death of 4,934 of them. She drew upon wisdom from her decades as Britain’s head of state to urge resolve in a time of crisis.
“While we have faced challenges before, this one is different,” she said. “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.”
The queen gives yearly Christmas messages but has given an address like this on only three previous occasions. She delivered speeches after the Queen Mother’s death in 2002, before the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, and at the time of the first Gulf War in 1991.
Here's how netizens reacted to the monarch's rare appearance:
Royals in quarantine
The crisis has hit close to home for the queen. Her son and the heir to the throne, 71-year-old Prince Charles, had a mild case of the disease. She herself left London, the epicenter of Britain’s outbreak, and took up residence at her home in Windsor with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh. Both the monarch and her 98-year-old husband are among those over 70 whom the British government has advised staying home for 12 weeks.'
(With AP inputs)
Updated 12:59 IST, April 6th 2020