Queen hopes coronavirus crisis will prove ‘this generation as strong as any’

Queen Elizabeth will tell Britons she hopes the coronavirus crisis will prove this generation is ‘as strong as any’ in a historic address on Sunday evening.

The Monarch, 93, will speak at 8pm in what will be only the fourth televised address of her 68-year-reign during times of national crisis and grief.

In her highly-anticipated speech, she will acknowledge the ‘grief’ and the ‘financial difficulties’ faced by many, and the ‘enormous changes’ the country is enduring after two weeks in lockdown.

Her Majesty will commend the UK’s resolve and describe how proud she has been to see Britain pull together, praising frontline staff for their invaluable work.

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She will 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.’

The head of the Royal Family will add: ‘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.’

With this weekend predicted to be the warmest of the year so far, the Queen will express her gratitude to those who are following the government’s social distancing rules and staying at home to protect the vulnerable.

Her pre-recorded speech, which will also be shown on the Royal Family’s social media channels, comes as the national death toll rises to 4,313 after 708 people died in 24 hours.

A five-year-old child with underlying health conditions became the UK’s youngest coronavirus victim on Saturday.

Queen Elizabeth normally broadcasts a recorded message each year on Christmas Day – but gave a special address after the Queen Mother’s death in 2002, ahead of Diana, Princess of Wales’s funeral in 1997 and about the First Gulf War in 1991.

She has also been known to give speeches in times of celebration, notably to mark her Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

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