Good-humoured resolve will overcome: Queen

The Queen has told the British people that ‘in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded’.

Queen Elizabeth II has said, ‘I hope in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge­’. Picture: AFP

The Queen has told the British people in a rare public address that “in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge”.

The Queen, who turns 94 on April 21 and volunteered as an army driver during World War II, said Britons’ “quiet, good-­humoured resolve” would overcome the coronavirus pandemic.

“I hope in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge­,’’ she 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-humoured ­resolve and of fellow-feeling still characterise this country.’’

Sunday’s broadcast to the nation­ was just the fifth televised message she has issued during­ her 68-year reign, outside of her annual Christmas message. The other times were for the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, the death of the Queen Mother, the Gulf War and her Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

Several days ago, a cameraman in protective clothing recorded the broadcast at Windsor Castle where the Queen and Prince Philip, 98, have been in near-isolation, attended by two courtiers.

Deaths in Britain attributed to coronavirus have soared to 4320, including that of a five-year-old with an underlying condition.

National Health Service medical director Stephen Powis said new hospital admissions from people suffering severe effects of coronavirus had been “plateauing” in London, which had been the country’s centre of the ­pandemic, and existing cases had stabilised. It is estimated that as many as two million Londoners may have already had the disease.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson continues to feel sick from the corona­virus, and now his fiancee, Carrie Symonds, has experienced COVID-19 symptoms.

Ms Symonds tweeted of her “worry” about having coronavirus while she was pregnant, but said she was now on the mend.