The Queen will deliver televised speech amid coronavirus outbreak
The Queen will address the UK and the Commonwealth in a televised speech on Sunday 5 April. The broadcast will air at 8pm on TV as well as the royal family's social media channels.
Rumours of the speech were confirmed by the palace today, 3 April, via Twitter and Instagram. She is expected to offer the nation words of encouragement and strength as the coronavirus death toll rises.
On Sunday 5th April at 8pm (BST)
Her Majesty The Queen will address the UK and the Commonwealth in a televised broadcast.
As well as on television and radio, The Queen’s address will be shown on The @RoyalFamily’s social media channels. pic.twitter.com/EADh7WNU7b— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) April 3, 2020
This is only the fourth that the Queen has addressed the public in this way, outside of her annual Christmas Day speeches. The monarch only broadcasts an address in times of crisis and grief, such as the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997 and the First Gulf War in 1991. She also made a televised speech in the wake of her mother dying in 2002.
Last week, the Queen shared a personal written message with the nation, where she stressed the "vitally important role" the public has to play in the Covid-19 crisis, something which she will likely reiterate in her address.
"We are all being advised to change our normal routines and regular patterns of life for the greater good of the communities we live in and, in particular, to protect the most vulnerable within them," wrote the Queen. "At times such as these, I am reminded that our nation’s history has been forged by people and communities coming together to work as one, concentrating our combined efforts with a focus on the common goal."
The outbreak has impacted her own family, with Prince Charles currently recovering after contracting the virus. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are currently self-isolating at Windsor Castle.
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