Queen Elizabeth II to make special broadcast on coronavirus

Queen Elizabeth II will make a special broadcast this weekend to Britain and the Commonwealth on the coronavirus pandemic, Buckingham Palace said on Friday (April 3).

“The televised address will be broadcast at 8 pm (1900 GMT) on Sunday 5th April, 2020. The address was recorded at Windsor Castle,” a statement said.

The Queen, 93, has made only four other special addresses during national crises in her 68-year reign. This will be her fifth special address.

The last address by the Queen was in 2012 following celebrations to mark her 60th year as queen, which came a decade after a preceding broadcast following the death of her mother in 2002 when she thanked Britons for their messages of condolence.

She also gave an address at the start of the Gulf War in 1991, and most famously, she delivered a somber live broadcast after the death of her daughter-in-law Princess Diana in a Paris car crash in 1997 amid a national outpouring of grief and criticism of the royal family’s response.