Saturday April 4, 2020 ~ ENGLAND
by Mary Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
Queen Elizabeth II will address her nation and the British Commonwealth on Sunday, delivering a message on the coronavirus outbreak in a special televised broadcast.
The occasion is considered rare. Usually her addresses are delivered once a year on Christmas.
The announcement by Buckingham Palace yesterday ended speculation over whether the 93-year-old monarch — on the throne for over 60 years –would make a statement about the unprecedented events that have forced the country into lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Queen is said to remain in good health. Her 94th birthday comes up April 21, though formally her birthday is normally celebrated in June when the weather is usually warmer and more pleasant.
Queen Elizabeth — at the time a princess — lived through World War II. It is widely known that she learned to repair vehicles and would drive her own vehicle. Relative to how glamorous her wedding gown could have been, apparently it was scaled back to reflect the austerity of the times in 1947.
The address coming up April 5 has been pre-recorded at Windsor Castle, where she and the Duke of Edinburgh, 98, are staying. They relocated from Buckingham Palace in London on March 15 as the COVID-19 pandemic scaled up. A number of changes were also made to her schedule; it’s rare for the active monarch to cancel out of royal engagements.
British newspapers are saying about the content of tomorrow’s address — to effectively the world — that Queen Elizabeth will praise the efforts of health workers and all those helping the fight against the infectious pandemic.
In a statement, Buckingham Palace said: “Her Majesty the Queen has recorded a special broadcast to the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth in relation to the coronavirus outbreak. The televised address will be broadcast at 8 pm on Sunday 5 April 2020.”
CBC suggests that the Queen’s rare broadcast will bring ‘dignity and gravitas’ to the battle against COVID-19 at a time when the pandemic is unleashing such great uncertainty, illness and an escalating number of deaths.
Due to the physical distancing realities of the pandemic — and obviously as a monarch not wanting to take any chances — the Queen will not be making any in-person visits to those who are suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic, as she has done at other times during her reign.
Other such addresses that are intended to show leadership and provide calm, were delivered at the beginning of the 1991 Persian Gulf War; several days after the death of her daughter-in-law, Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997; after her mother’s death in 2002; and for her Diamond Jubilee in 2012.
The Queen has ruled for longer than any other Monarch in British history, becoming a much loved and respected figure across the globe (as stated on the www.royal.uk website).
Queen Elizabeth is head of the Church of England. Her infamous line (while still Princess Elizabeth) from a speech that was broadcast on radio on her 21st birthday has in fact turned out to lean to the long side of the proposed outcome: ‘I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service.’
Her grandson Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge — who is 2nd in line to the throne after his father Charles, the Prince of Wales — says on the royal website: “I think I speak for my generation when I say that the example and continuity provided by The Queen is not only very rare among leaders but a great source of pride and reassurance.” Prince William is the eldest son of the late Princess Diana, whom the British public dubbed ‘the Queen of hearts’.