'Better days will return when COVID-19 is defeated' - The Queen addresses the nation - The Bromsgrove Standard

'Better days will return when COVID-19 is defeated' - The Queen addresses the nation

Bromsgrove Editorial 5th Apr, 2020   0

IN HER address to the nation The Queen thanked and praised NHS frontline staff, care and essential workers ‘selflessly carrying out their duties to support us all’.

And Her Majesty spoke of ‘better days returning’ once the virus had been defeated across the globe.

In a rare speech, broadcast at 8pm, she said the frontline NHS, care and essential workers’ efforts were appreciated by the nation as a whole, adding: “Every hour of your hard work brings us closer to a return to more normal times.”

She thanked everyone who were staying at home to protect the vulnerable and sparing families the pain already felt by those who had lost loved ones.




“Together we are tackling this disease and if we remain united and resolute, we will overcome it.”

She said she hoped in the years to come everyone would be able to look back and 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.

“The pride of who we are is not part of our past, it defines our present and our future.”

The moment the country came together to applaud its care and essential workers would be remembered as an expression of our national spirit and its symbol will be the rainbows drawn by children.

She talked about the heartwarming stories – of people delivering food or medicines, checking on neighbours or businesses converting to help the relief effort.

For everyone self-isolating she said, although times may be hard, the situation presented an opportunity to slow down and reflect through meditation or prayer.

And, recalling her first broadcast in 1940 when she and her sister spoke to children who had been evacuated from their homes, she compared the self-isolation to those times.

“Today, once again, many will feel a painful sense of separation from their loved ones.

“But now – as then – we know it is the right thing to do.”

The coronavirus challenge was different to others we had faced before, Her Majesty added, as all nations across the globe were joined 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.

“We should take comfort that while we may have more to endure, better days will return.

 

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