Queen Elizabeth II was the epitome of calm and resolve as she encouraged Brits around the world to prepare for "better days" following the coronavirus lockdown during a speech to the commonwealth on Sunday (05Apr20).
In a rare televised speech from Windsor Castle, she urged "self-discipline" and "good-humoured resolve" as she saluted the bravery of National Health Service employees and care workers on the front line of the pandemic.
"I am speaking to you at what I know is an increasingly challenging time," The Queen said in her speech, which was televised throughout Britain at 8pm local 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."
As the United Kingdom reels from the latest coronavirus death toll figures of over 4,300, The Queen chose to speak to subjects for only the fourth time during her reign - outside of her traditional Christmas Day message - to urge them to stay strong.
She also reflected on her first-ever address to the nation in 1940, when she and her late sister, Princess Margaret, attempted to bring comfort to children separated from their parents by World War Two.
"We, as children, spoke from here at Windsor to children who had been evacuated from their homes and sent away for their own safety," she said.
"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 ended her short speech by adding, "We will succeed and this success will belong to every one of us."
