London: As the UK reels under the coronavirus scourge with the national toll nearing 5,000 and total cases almost at 50,000, Queen Elizabeth II will Sunday evening make a special address to the nation — the fifth of her nearly seven-decade-long reign — to rally the people.
In the address, to be broadcast on TV, radio and social media at 8 p.m. BST (1.30 a.m.), she will acknowledge the grief, pain and difficulties Britons are facing during this “time of disruption”, and thank NHS staff and key workers, the BBC reported.
According to it, she is expected to say: “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.”
“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 that the Britons of this generation were as strong as any. That the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet good-humoured resolve and of fellow-feeling still characterise this country.”
The message was filmed by a single cameraman wearing protective equipment, with all the other technical staff in another room.
While the Queen makes an annual address to the nation at Christmas, this is only the fifth time she will make a special address since the first just before the First Gulf War in 1991.
The other three have been following the tragic death of Princess Diana in 1997, at the death of the Queen Mother in 2002, and the diamond jubilee of her accession to the throne in 2012.
IANS