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It was a Sunday 5th April, two weeks into lockdown. A daunting time. We were still rabbit-in-the-headlights about what was happening to us and what the future may hold. Boris Johnson, our prime minister, had just been hospitalised with corona-virus and the peak of the disease had yet to arrive.
In the midst of this, the Queen gave a rallying call to the nation. She ended her speech with these words:
“We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again.”
Immediately afterwards Twitter was awash, even from those with a republican tendency, with how everyone found themselves a little choked as Her Maj made this reference to the wartime song, We’ll Meet Again, sung by the nation’s sweetheart, Dame Vera Lynn.
This song is etched into the national psyche. People of my grandparent’s generation were deeply touched by it and always sung along whenever it was played. As a child we made fun of it as “old person’s music”. But as an adult I can see the poignancy of the words, and of other favourites, to a nation that had been at war for six years.
The day after the Queen’s speech I found myself continually humming We’ll Meet Again. As the sacrifices being…
