We have more of coronavirus to endure but better days will return, says the Queen in national address

  • Video report by ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship

The Queen has thanked nurses and doctors on the NHS frontline as she urged the nation to stick together to spare even more families the grief of losing a loved one to coronavirus.

She spoke in a nationwide television broadcast, only the fourth time she has done so in times of grief during her long 68-year reign.

The Queen warned that "we may have more still to endure" but she said "better days will return".

"We will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again," she said, using similar words to those of Dame Vera Lynn in the Second World War.

The Queen thanked frontline NHS Staff. Credit: PA

Buckingham Palace called the broadcast a "deeply personal message" from the Queen at a time of crisis and she referred to a broadcast she made with her sister Margaret in 1940.

It was a time when many families were forced to be apart as children were evacuated from their homes as part of the war effort.

"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," the Queen said.

The coronavirus crisis, she said, is different from previous challenges as "we join with all nations across the globe in a common endeavour".

  • Watch the Queen's speech in full here:

The Queen explained that frontline NHS staff deserve our thanks as they "selflessly continue their day-to-day duties outside the home in support of us all".

"Every hour of your hard work brings us closer to a return to normal times," she went on to say.

The Queen believes that future generations will look back on this one and say it "was a strong as any", "shaped by self-discipline, good humoured resolve and a willingness to look out for one another".

She has also been struck by the pictures of rainbows that many children have put in the windows of their homes and said it was "an expression of our national spirit".

The self-isolation, the Queen said on a positive note, might be used by many people of all faiths, as a moment as a moment to slow down, pause and reflect.

It is only the fourth time the Queen has made such a broadcast in times of grief. Credit: PA

The TV address was filmed in Windsor Castle where the Queen is staying spending the pandemic with the Duke of Edinburgh.

At 93 and 98, respectively, they are both in the most vulnerable group.

A single camera operator was permitted into the room, chosen to allow enough space between the two of them.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are spending the pandemic at Windsor Castle. Credit: PA

The camera operator wore protective equipment during the filming.

The Queen is one of a dwindling number of people who lived through World War II.

She joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service towards the end of the war, the first member of the Royal Family to join the Armed Services.

"We will succeed and that success will belong to every one of us," the Queen wants us all to remember.

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