Queen Elizabeth is capping off a difficult year amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic with a poignant message to her subjects.
“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,” the Queen said in a social media post on Thursday.
“Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy New Year,” she concluded.
The monarch, 94, spoke these same words earlier in the year when she addressed the U.K. and the Commonwealth in a rare televised address in April at the start of the pandemic in early April. And her message rings just as true months later as much of the U.K. is currently under strict lockdown restrictions to curb the spread of an infectious new coronavirus strain.
The Queen and her husband, Prince Philip, 99, are isolating at Windsor Castle, where they spent Christmas and much of the past year. It’s also where she delivered her annual Christmas speech.
In addition to her New Year’s message, the Queen also shared four photos that best reflect the past year for her. The first is a candid shot of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip reading a handmade card from their great-grandchildren, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, in celebration of their 73rd wedding anniversary in November.
The second is a photo of the iconic Round Tower at Windsor Castle lit up in blue in honor of the NHS staff for their vital work during the pandemic. The third photo is of a quote from the Queen’s coronavirus address to the nation displayed at Piccadilly Circus in London in April. And the last photo is from one of the Queen’s only outings of the year when she knighted Captain Sir Tom Moore at Windsor Castle in July for his extraordinary fundraising efforts during the COVID-19 crisis.
