The Prince of Wales has sent a message of support to Australians after COVID-19 cases have surged in the state of Victoria.
“I have always felt a special fondness for Victoria, having spent six very happy months there at school 54 years ago and having had a chance to explore various parts of the state,” Prince Charles says in the recorded message.
“I know that Victorians, like all Australians, are tenacious and resilient, or indeed, as you might say in Australia, made of tough stuff. My wife and I have endless admiration for your seemingly unceasing capacity for good humour in the face of great hardship.
“No sooner than the dreadful summer bushfires are over than you find yourselves grappling with this pernicious and unpredictable virus. I can only imagine how incredibly hard it must be for you all, that having had such early success in combatting the virus you now find yourselves in the midst of this second wave, with all its heartbreaking consequences for so many people’s lives, livelihoods and businesses.
“My heart goes out to all currently battling the disease, those caring for them, either at home or in your first-class healthcare system, and those who have so tragically lost their lives.”
Prince Charles was diagnosed with COVID-19 in March and convalesced in Scotland, with Camilla isolating away from him during his illness. At a later engagement, after he’d recovered and the United Kingdom began to re-open, he revealed that his sense of taste and smell had been affected by the coronavirus and that he hadn’t yet recovered them.
Prince Charles continued: “To all of you, I just wanted to say on behalf of my wife and myself, that you are so much in our special thoughts in what I can well imagine is a tremendously testing and frustrating time and that we care deeply about what you’re having to go through.”
Australia has 23,993 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 15,241 recovered and 450 deaths.
“It is our heartful wish that in the words of Victor Daley, the 19th-century poet who found his voice in Victoria and who was himself no stranger to hardship, ‘you will soon see sorrow go down with the sun.’ These difficult and often soul-destroying days will surely pass, and we have no doubt that Victoria will emerge stronger than ever.”
