Queen leads Royal Family tributes to nurses across the world battling coronavirus

The Queen has led tributes to nurses all over the world as members of the Royal Family spoke to healthcare workers in the UK and seven Commonwealth countries.

The joint phone and video calls were made to mark International Nurses’ Day on Tuesday.

The Royal Family released a video of the conversations and they spoke about the vital role the profession is currently playing as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps across the globe.

• Watch the video in full:

It’s believed to be the first time Buckingham Palace has released the audio of a conversation the Queen has had by phone.

“This is rather an important day” for nurses, the Queen says on her phone call, “because they have obviously had a very important part to play recently”.

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The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall spoke of their thanks and Camilla singled out the nurses in the Royal Naval Medical Service and Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s charity.

She has connections with both organisations.

• Kath McCourt, President of the Commonwealth Nurses and Midwives Federation, spoke with the Queen on the phone:

Prince Charles said: “My family and I want to join in the chorus of thank yous to nursing and midwifery staff all over the country and indeed the world”.

Camilla said: “Extraordinary times call for extraordinary people. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

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Kate and Sophie, the Duchess of Cambridge and the Countess of Wessex, teamed up to get in touch with nurses in Australia, Sierra Leone, India, Malawi, the Bahamas, Cyprus and the UK.

Sophie said the nurses in Australia: “I hope you are feeling some of the love as well.”

The Countess of Wessex said to nurses in the UK: “People forget you are doing this on a daily basis - you are caring for people day in day out."

• Kath McCourt said the Queen expressed her gratitude to nurses:

While Kate said to a team of nurses in The Bahamas: “It’s just showing how vital the role that nurses play across the world so you should be so proud of the work that you do.”

And Princess Anne spoke with nurses in Tanzania.

“We can be part of the celebration," said the Princess Royal to the programme manager of a medical ship in the country which provides healthcare to people who can’t usually get access to it.

The video ends with a video messages from Prince Charles saying: “Thank you all so much for the diligence and the courage and that you have shown.”

The joint effort by seven members of the Royal Family - all working remotely from their various homes - is very rare.