Coronavirus: Queen tells UK 'we will succeed' in fight - BBC News

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The Queen has said the UK "will succeed" in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic, in a rallying message to the nation.

In a rare speech, the monarch thanked people for following government rules to stay at home and praised those "coming together to help others".

She also thanked key workers, saying "every hour" of work "brings us closer to a return to more normal times".

It comes as the number of people to die with the virus in the UK reached 4,934.

'We will meet again'

Speaking from Windsor Castle, the Queen said: "While we have faced challenges before, this one is different."

"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.

"We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again."

The Queen, 93, also said the "painful sense of separation from their loved ones" that social distancing was causing for people reminded her of the experience child evacuees had during the Second World War.

"Now, as then, we know, deep down, that it is the right thing to do," she said.

An hour after the Queen's broadcast, Downing Street announced that Prime Minister Boris Johnson had been taken to hospital following his coronavirus diagnosis.

Mr Johnson has been self-isolating since he tested positive for the virus on 27 March.

In her address, the Queen said everyone who was following guidance to stay at home was "helping to protect the vulnerable and sparing many families the pain already felt by those who have lost loved ones".

"Together we are tackling this disease, and I want to reassure you that if we remain united and resolute, then we will overcome it," she added.

She also stressed the value of self-discipline and resolve - and said she hopes that, in the future, everyone would "be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge".

'Ambitious message' to inspire nation

There have been difficult royal speeches and addresses in the past - times when the wrong word or the wrong phrase could have undermined the message or let slip a critical opportunity.

The broadcast after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997 for example, or the speech the Queen gave on her visit to Ireland in 2011.

The Palace could have played it safe, stressed unity and given thanks. It would have served.

This was a different and much more ambitious broadcast, designed to reassure and to inspire.

But most of all to recast this crisis as a defining moment in a nation which will forever remember its collective effort to save the lives of its vulnerable.

Read more here.

The pre-recorded message, written by the Queen with her private secretary Sir Edward Young, was filmed by a single cameraman wearing protective equipment. All other technical staff were in another room.

It was broadcast on TV, radio and social media channels.

• The Queen's broadcast in full

The decision to deliver the address was made "in close consultation with Downing Street", BBC royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell said.

Nightingale Hospital - the first temporary field hospital to open to treat coronavirus patients - shared photos on Twitter of staff listening to the speech, and thanked the monarch for recognising the hard work of frontline NHS staff.

The UK government's Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the Queen's address was "striking and important".

The new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the monarch spoke for the whole country "and our determination to defeat the coronavirus".

The Queen's address came less than a week after her son, the Prince of Wales, came out of self-isolation, following his coronavirus diagnosis.

Prince Charles, 71, spent seven days self-isolating in Scotland after testing positive and displaying mild symptoms.

The Queen's four other special addresses

It is only the fifth time the monarch has given such a speech in her 68-year reign.

While her Christmas Day message is an annual event, only rarely has the Queen made rallying speeches at key moments in the life of the nation:

• A televised speech to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee in June 2012
• A special address to the nation on the eve of her mother's funeral in April 2002
• A live broadcast on the eve of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in September 1997
• And a statement at the beginning of the land war in Iraq on 24 February 1991

Read more here.

On Sunday Mr Hancock urged the public to follow social distancing rules over a sunny weekend to protect the NHS and slow the spread of the virus.

The Department of Health said on Sunday there had been 621 more coronavirus-related deaths in the UK in the past day.

The latest deaths include 12 more in Wales, seven in Northern Ireland and two in Scotland.

As of 09:00 BST on Sunday, 47,806 people had tested positive for the virus, the Department of Health said.

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2020-04-06 05:06:04Z
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Coronavirus: Queen tells UK 'we will succeed' in fight - BBC News

Media playback is unsupported on your device

The Queen has said the UK "will succeed" in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic, in a rallying message to the nation.

In a rare speech, the monarch thanked people for following government rules to stay at home and praised those "coming together to help others".

She also thanked key workers, saying "every hour" of work "brings us closer to a return to more normal times".

It comes as the number of people to die with the virus in the UK reached 4,934.

'We will meet again'

Speaking from Windsor Castle, the Queen said: "While we have faced challenges before, this one is different."

"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.

"We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again."

The Queen, 93, also said the "painful sense of separation from their loved ones" that social distancing was causing for people reminded her of the experience child evacuees had during the Second World War.

"Now, as then, we know, deep down, that it is the right thing to do," she said.

An hour after the Queen's broadcast, Downing Street announced that Prime Minister Boris Johnson had been taken to hospital following his coronavirus diagnosis.

Mr Johnson has been self-isolating since he tested positive for the virus on 27 March.

In her address, the Queen said everyone who was following guidance to stay at home was "helping to protect the vulnerable and sparing many families the pain already felt by those who have lost loved ones".

"Together we are tackling this disease, and I want to reassure you that if we remain united and resolute, then we will overcome it," she added.

She also stressed the value of self-discipline and resolve - and said she hopes that, in the future, everyone would "be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge".

'Ambitious message' to inspire nation

There have been difficult royal speeches and addresses in the past - times when the wrong word or the wrong phrase could have undermined the message or let slip a critical opportunity.

The broadcast after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997 for example, or the speech the Queen gave on her visit to Ireland in 2011.

The Palace could have played it safe, stressed unity and given thanks. It would have served.

This was a different and much more ambitious broadcast, designed to reassure and to inspire.

But most of all to recast this crisis as a defining moment in a nation which will forever remember its collective effort to save the lives of its vulnerable.

Read more here.

The pre-recorded message, written by the Queen with her private secretary Sir Edward Young, was filmed by a single cameraman wearing protective equipment. All other technical staff were in another room.

It was broadcast on TV, radio and social media channels.

• The Queen's broadcast in full

The decision to deliver the address was made "in close consultation with Downing Street", BBC royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell said.

Nightingale Hospital - the first temporary field hospital to open to treat coronavirus patients - shared photos on Twitter of staff listening to the speech, and thanked the monarch for recognising the hard work of frontline NHS staff.

The UK government's Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the Queen's address was "striking and important".

The new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the monarch spoke for the whole country "and our determination to defeat the coronavirus".

The Queen's address came less than a week after her son, the Prince of Wales, came out of self-isolation, following his coronavirus diagnosis.

Prince Charles, 71, spent seven days self-isolating in Scotland after testing positive and displaying mild symptoms.

The Queen's four other special addresses

It is only the fifth time the monarch has given such a speech in her 68-year reign.

While her Christmas Day message is an annual event, only rarely has the Queen made rallying speeches at key moments in the life of the nation:

• A televised speech to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee in June 2012
• A special address to the nation on the eve of her mother's funeral in April 2002
• A live broadcast on the eve of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in September 1997
• And a statement at the beginning of the land war in Iraq on 24 February 1991

Read more here.

On Sunday Mr Hancock urged the public to follow social distancing rules over a sunny weekend to protect the NHS and slow the spread of the virus.

The Department of Health said on Sunday there had been 621 more coronavirus-related deaths in the UK in the past day.

The latest deaths include 12 more in Wales, seven in Northern Ireland and two in Scotland.

As of 09:00 BST on Sunday, 47,806 people had tested positive for the virus, the Department of Health said.

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2020-04-06 04:30:53Z
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UK's plan B if 'Team Johnson' is incapacitated? Answer is unclear - Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s constitution offers no clear answer to the question now on many Britons’ minds: what happens if Prime Minister Boris Johnson, undergoing tests in hospital after persistent symptoms of coronavirus, cannot continue to lead.

FILE PHOTO: A journalist is pictured filming the front of 10 Downing street after Britain's prime minister Boris Johnson tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London, Britain, March 27, 2020. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo

Johnson was admitted to hospital on Sunday in what his office said was a “precautionary step” after testing positive 10 days ago and still suffering from a high temperature. He remains in charge of the government, his office said.

Johnson has said he can keep working from self-isolation in his Downing Street residence, just as his health secretary, Matt Hancock, who also tested positive for the virus, has done.

But the fact that two such crucial leaders in the UK’s fight against the pandemic have contracted the disease has raised questions about how the government would function without them at a time of global crisis.

The constitution — an unwieldy collection of sometimes ancient and contradictory precedents — offers no clear, formal “Plan B” or succession scenario, experts said.

“We’ve not been in that kind of situation, we’ve not had to think about it from that point of view before,” Catherine Haddon, a senior fellow at the Institute for Government, told Reuters soon after Johnson was first diagnosed.

Whereas in the United States the vice president steps up if the president dies or becomes incapacitated, Britain has no formal deputy or caretaker prime minister who would take over.

Downing Street has already said, however, that Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab would deputise if necessary.

Nor is there any guidance for such circumstances in the Cabinet Manual which sets out the rules and conventions for the running of government, and there is little precedence.

When asked about who would stand in for the prime minister, his spokesman said: “The prime minister has the power to delegate responsibility to any of his ministers, but for now it is the prime minister and then the foreign secretary.”

CHURCHILL’S STROKE

In June 1953, then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill suffered a stroke while in office. His illness was kept so secret that some senior ministers were unaware.

Churchill surprised doctors by recovering to carry on his duties, returning to Downing Street and running the cabinet two months later.

More recently, Tony Blair twice underwent treatment for a heart condition while prime minister in the early 2000s, each time briefly cutting back on his workload for a couple of days.

Officials said that if Blair were to have been incapacitated, his then-deputy John Prescott would have taken over until a new leader was elected.

There is no suggestion Johnson is unable to perform his job. Since his diagnosis, he has carried on leading the government’s efforts through the use of teleconferencing.

MUDDLE THROUGH?

Bob Kerslake, head of the civil service from January 2012 to September 2014, said Johnson’s role was crucial at this time, stressing that visible leadership was essential.

Kerslake, speaking to Sky News last month after Johnson tested positive, said officials would need to know what would happen if senior ministers were unable to do their jobs.

Losing Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove, who coordinates policy across government, would be a serious blow.

“He is critical to all of this,” Kerslake said. “If, for whatever reason, he was ill, who takes over from him?”

Haddon from the Institute for Government said some powers were specifically vested in cabinet ministers, so there was an issue of what happened if they were unavailable.

“If you got to a stage where ... you had secretaries of state who aren’t able to perform their functions, then there are question marks about whether junior ministers in their department act on their behalf,” she said.

One lawmaker in Johnson’s party, who has repeatedly tried to bring in a law to formalise who would replace a prime minister in the event of incapacity, said last month that no one seemed to know what would happen.

“In a national emergency, you don’t want to be scrabbling around worrying about who’s in charge,” Peter Bone told the Mirror newspaper.

Editing by Mark Bendeich and Daniel Wallis

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2020-04-05 22:22:31Z
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Queen reassures Britons of eventual victory over coronavirus; Boris Johnson admitted to hospital with ‘persistent’ symptoms - The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/video/world/queen-elizabeth-britain-will-overcome-coronavirus-united-and-resolute/2020/04/05/4412c062-c4f1-4c2d-ada9-bbafd80b3384_video.html

LONDON — Queen Elizabeth II urged the British people in a rare televised speech Sunday to show their self-discipline and quiet resolve during the coronavirus pandemic that has taken nearly 5,000 lives here. Soon after the evening broadcast ended, a spokeswoman for Boris Johnson said the prime minister had been admitted to a hospital because he suffered from “persistent” symptoms of the virus.

Johnson tested positive 10 days ago and had been self-isolating at his official residence since then.

“This is a precautionary step,” said the spokeswoman, who by long-standing protocol is not named. She said the 55-year-old prime minister still had a high temperature. 

Johnson, one of the first world leaders to be diagnosed with covid-19, had continued to work and lead cabinet meetings via teleconference from his flat, aides said. He has posted short videos on Twitter urging Britons to remain indoors except to go shopping, visit the doctor or exercise. In his most recent video, on Friday, he looked ragged, with puffy eyes and pale skin; he said then that he had one symptom — the temperature — and would continue in self-isolation.

Hannah Mckay

Reuters

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street in London on March 25.

The spokeswoman did not offer more details on why Johnson was admitted to the hospital — whether it was for further tests, such as chest X-rays, or to spend the night. Friends and political foes expressed sympathy and wishes for a speedy recovery.

The news of his hospitalization broke an hour after the queen broadcast her prerecorded message to the United Kingdom and Commonwealth — only the fifth such speech in her 68-year reign.

“We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return,” she said. “We will be with our friends again, we will be with our families again, we will meet again.”

[The U.K. vowed a national effort to produce ventilators. Is it working?]

The four-minute speech, coordinated with 10 Downing Street, was intended to rally national resolve through an outbreak that had taken the lives of 4,934 people in Britain as of Sunday evening. Buckingham Palace described it as “a deeply personal message . . . reflecting [the Queen’s] experience in other difficult times.”

In her remarks, she referred to her first radio broadcast in 1940, when as a 14-year-old princess she spoke to console children who were being taken from London to the countryside to escape bombing by the German Luftwaffe.

On Sunday evening, she spoke of “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.”

She thanked the front-line health-care workers and all who were doing essential jobs. She thanked, too, those who were staying at home — “thereby helping to protect the vulnerable and sparing many families the pain already felt by those who have lost loved ones.”

“I hope in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge,” the queen said. “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-humored resolve and of fellow-feeling still characterize this country.”

She spoke without flourish. The rhetoric was not soaring but solid. Many said they were moved when the 93-year-old monarch and great-grandmother promised, “we will meet again.”

Neil Hall

EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

A police officer speaks to people sunbathing in London’s Greenwich Park on Sunday.

But Health Secretary Matt Hancock didn’t sound so proud on the morning talk shows, where he warned Britons that unless they all took the order to remain mostly indoors seriously, then the government might ban outdoor exercise — as governments in France, Italy and Spain have done.

Britons have been told to stay inside their homes except for infrequent trips to buy food and medicine, to visit the doctor, to do essential work or take an hour or less of exercise outdoors.

[Vast coronavirus ‘field hospitals’ fill spaces that hosted wedding expos and dog shows]

On Sunday, with the skies a sunny blue and temperatures soaring to the low 70s, Britain’s great outdoors — from the countryside to the beaches to the city parks — were filled not just with walkers, bicyclists and joggers, but with picnickers and sunbathers sprawled on lawns.

“If you don’t want us to have to take the step to ban exercise of all forms outside of your own home, then you’ve got to follow the rules,” Hancock implored the citizenry via the BBC.

He said most Britons were adhering to the guidelines, but the ones who aren’t might ruin it for all.

Hancock has tested positive for the virus. On Sky News, he sounded more heated: “It’s quite unbelievable, frankly, to see that there are some people who are not following advice.”

Hancock said the guidance for Britain’s version of a lockdown couldn’t be more “crystal clear.” He repeated the admonition that staying at home protects the National Health Service and saves lives — an advisory that became more grim a few days ago when the government released a new ad campaign: “If you go out, you can spread it. People will die.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/video/world/sunbathing-and-barbecues-locals-flout-britains-social-distancing-rules/2020/04/05/b6112bdc-a62c-4d7e-9c47-aadf298fa30b_video.html

British public health officials worry the public will cease to maintain the extreme social distancing needed to “flatten the curve” that shows soaring numbers of new infections here.

Sunday also saw the publication of photographs revealing that Scotland’s chief medical officer, Catherine Calderwood, flouted her own warnings to the public by traveling not once but twice to her holiday home on the beach during the lockdown. Police took the extraordinary step of issuing her a warning.

[Boris Johnson and U.K. health secretary test positive for coronavirus; chief medical officer has symptoms]

The queen’s address was taped at Windsor Castle, where the world’s longest-serving monarch is living in partial isolation with her 98-year-old spouse, Prince Philip.

To protect her, the palace reported, she was filmed by a lone cameraman, who kept six feet away and wore protective equipment. All other technical staff assisted from another room.

While the queen’s Christmas Day message is an annual broadcast event, she has addressed the country in this way only four other times in her long reign: on her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, on the deaths of the Queen Mother in 2002 and Princess Diana in 1997, and on the Gulf War in 1991.

The coronavirus has touched the queen’s immediate family. Her son Prince Charles, first in line to the throne, tested positive last month. He spent a week in quarantine at Birkhall, his royal estate in Scotland, and has recovered.

Read more:

Prince Charles, heir to the throne, has tested positive for coronavirus

Britain’s battered Labour Party picks Keir Starmer to succeed Jeremy Corbyn

Megxit: Trump tweets U.S. won’t pay for security for Harry and Meghan

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news

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2020-04-05 22:02:26Z
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UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson hospitalized with virus - ABC News

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been admitted to a hospital for tests, 10 days after being diagnosed with the new coronavirus

By

JILL LAWLESS Associated Press

April 5, 2020, 9:40 PM

3 min read

3 min read

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to a hospital Sunday for tests, his office said, because he is still suffering symptoms, 10 days after he was diagnosed with COVID-19.

Johnson’s office said the admission to an undisclosed London hospital came on the advice of his doctor and was not an emergency. The prime minister's Downing St. office said it was a “precautionary step” and Johnson remains in charge of the government.

Johnson, 55, has been quarantined in his Downing St. residence since being diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 26 — the first known head of government to fall ill with the virus.

Johnson has continued to preside at daily meetings on Britain’s response to the outbreak and has released several video messages during his 10 days in isolation.

In a message Friday, a flushed and red-eyed Johnson said he said he was feeling better but still had a fever.

The virus causes mild to moderate symptoms in most people, but for some, especially older adults and the infirm, it can cause pneumonia and lead to death.

Johnson has received medical advice remotely during his illness, but going to a hospital means doctors can see him in person.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who has been designated to take over if Johnson becomes incapacitated, is set to lead the government's coronavirus meeting Monday.

Johnson’s fiancee, Carrie Symonds, 32, revealed Saturday that she spent a week in bed with coronavirus symptoms, though she wasn't tested. Symonds, who is pregnant, said she was now “on the mend.” She has not been staying with the prime minister in Downing St. since his diagnosis.

The government said Sunday that almost 48,000 people have been confirmed to have COVID-19 in the U.K., and 4,934 have died.

Johnson replaced Theresa May as Conservative prime minister in July and won a resounding election victory in December on a promise to complete Britain's exit from the European Union. But Brexit, which became official Jan. 31, has been overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe.

Johnson's government was slower than those in some European countries to impose restrictions on daily life in response to the pandemic, leading his critics to accuse him of complacency. He imposed an effective nationwide lockdown March 23, but his government remains under huge pressure to boost the country's number of hospital beds and ventilators and to expand testing for the virus.

London has been the center of the outbreak in the U.K., and politicians and civil servants have been hit hard. Several other members of Johnson’s government have also tested positive for the virus, including Health Secretary Matt Hancock and junior Health Minister Nadine Dorries. Both have recovered.

News of Johnson’s admission to hospital came an hour after Queen Elizabeth II made a rare televised address to the nation, in which she urged Britons to remain “united and resolute” in the fight against the virus.

“We will succeed — and that success will belong to every one of us,” the 93-year-old monarch said, drawing parallels to the struggle of World War II.

“We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again," she said.

———

Follow AP news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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2020-04-05 20:35:34Z
52780704870161

In Emotional Address, Queen Elizabeth Offers Words of Hope to Britain - WWD

LONDON — With the number of coronavirus deaths in Britain approaching 5,000 and people confined to their homes under ever-stricter lockdown measures, Queen Elizabeth II made an extraordinary — and very personal — address to the British public on Sunday night, urging people to exercise their self-discipline and resolve, and telling them “better days will return.”

No one else here could have delivered such a powerful message: The Queen, who turns 94 later this month, drew on Britain’s 20th-century history — and her own past — in an effort to comfort the public and rouse them to action in fighting the spread of COVID-19.

She said Sunday night’s address reminded her of the very first broadcast she made. It was during World War II, when she was a teenager, and she spoke alongside her younger sister, Princess Margaret.

“We, as children, spoke from here at Windsor to children who had been evacuated from their homes and sent away for their own safety. Today, once again, many will feel a painful sense of separation from their loved ones. But now, as then, we know, deep down, that it is the right thing to do,” she said.

Dressed in an aqua green dress and with her signature three strands of graduated pearls, the Queen was speaking from Windsor Castle, where she is in quarantine with her husband, Prince Philip. While the Queen may address Britons every year at Christmas, Sunday was only the fourth time in her long reign that she chose to make a special broadcast during difficult times for the country.

The Queen said if everyone remained united and resolute, “then we will overcome it. We should take comfort that while we have more still to endure, better days will return. We will be with our friends again, we will be with our families again, we will meet again.”

The latter phrase recalled the lines from the famous World War II song “We’ll Meet Again,” sung by Vera Lynn in the film of the same name.

The Queen, who praised and thanked National Health Service workers, also appealed to Britons’ sense of national pride: “The pride in who we are is not part of our past, it defines our present and our future. We will succeed, and that success will belong to every one of us.”

The message was recorded in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle, with all social distancing measures in place. One cameraman was present, and he was wearing gloves and a mask, according to Sky News. Other technical staff had to work in a separate room filled with monitors and speakers.

As reported, Britain’s Royal Family has been vocal and nothing but supportive of the U.K. government’s efforts to contain the spread of the virus and to curb the number of deaths. On Friday, Prince Charles inaugurated — by video link — a field hospital in London that’s been set up at the ExCel convention center.  

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2020-04-05 20:23:30Z
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Queen Elizabeth will ask Britain to show resolve against coronavirus in rare address - FRANCE 24 English

Issued on: 05/04/2020 - 08:33Modified: 05/04/2020 - 08:33

Queen Elizabeth will call on Britons to show the same resolve as their forebears and take on the challenge and disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak with good-humoured resolve when she makes an extremely rare address to rally the nation on Sunday.

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In what will only be her fifth special televised message to the country during her 68 years on the throne, the queen will also thank healthcare workers on the front line and recognise the pain already suffered by some families.

"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," the 93-year-old monarch will say, according to extracts released by Buckingham Palace.

"That the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet good-humoured resolve and of fellow-feeling still characterise this country."

On Saturday, the government said the death toll of those who had tested positive for the virus rose by 708 in 24 hours to 4,313, with a 5-year-old among the dead, along with at least 40 who had no known previous health conditions.

Health officials have cautioned that high fatalities were expected for at least another week or two even if people complied with strict isolation measures.

Like many countries in Europe, Britain is in a state of virtual lockdown, with pubs, restaurants and nearly all shops closed, and social gatherings banned.

Britons have been told to stay at home unless it is absolutely essential to venture out to try to stop the spread of the epidemic. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is still in self-isolation, and a number of senior ministers have been among those who have tested positive for the virus.

'As strong as any'

"I am speaking to you at what I know is an increasingly challenging time," Elizabeth will say in what has been framed as a deeply personal message.

"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."

Sunday's address, which will be aired at 1900 GMT, was recorded at Windsor Castle where the monarch is staying with her husband Prince Philip, 98.

In order to ensure any risk to the queen herself was mitigated, it was filmed in a big room to ensure a safe distance between her and the cameraman, who was wearing personal protective equipment and was the only other person present.

Earlier this week, Elizabeth's son and heir Prince Charles, 71, came out of self-isolation himself after seven days following a positive test.

The queen usually only broadcasts to the nation with her annual televised Christmas Day message and this special address will be only the fifth she has made.

The last was in 2012 following celebrations to mark her 60th year as queen. That came a decade after the preceding broadcast which followed the death of her mother, the Queen Mother, in 2002 when she thanked Britons for their messages of condolence.

She also gave an address at the start of the Gulf War in 1991, and most famously, delivered a sombre live broadcast after the death of her daughter-in-law Princess Diana in a Paris car crash in 1997 amid a national outpouring of grief and criticism of the royal family's response.

(REUTERS)

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2020-04-05 18:41:41Z
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