Dame Vera Lynn has said the Queen’s address to the nation during the coronavirus pandemic offered “great encouragement” during “difficult times”.
During a televised message earlier this month, the Queen told the country in lockdown, separated from their families and friends: “We will meet again.”
The song has enjoyed a resurgence amid the coronavirus pandemic, with Dame Vera releasing a new duet version with Katherine Jenkins.
Dame Vera told Radio Times: “I watched with the rest of the country and thought it was a great encouragement during these difficult times, but I wasn’t aware that Her Majesty would use the lyrics at the end of her speech.
“I support her message of keeping strong together when we’re faced with such a terrible challenge.
“Our nation has faced some dark times over the years, but we always overcome.”
Dame Vera said she did not foresee the enduring popularity of We’ll Meet Again but had immediately felt “a strong connection” with its lyrics when she first recorded it in 1939.
She said: “I never really thought about success or popularity when I was making a song, I just knew that I felt a strong connection with the lyrics straight away.
“They really captured the mood and feeling of the country as we sent our boys off to war, not knowing when they’d return.
“It was so important that the lyrics were positive and that they looked ahead to happier times when we could all reunite.”
She added: “I never thought that people would still enjoy my music so many years later but I’m delighted that We’ll Meet Again has comforted people during many difficult times – not just during the war or this latest crisis.
“I think the fact that it has remained so popular should be a reminder to us all that tough times come and go, but hope remains.
“I think the lyrics speak to a universal feeling of loss, regardless of age, time or place.
“They remind us all just how important it is to keep hope alive. However bad things get, we will always all be together again. We need to keep smiling through and rely on one another to get through this.”
Dame Vera said she would be joining a televised singalong of the track, hosted on BBC One at 8pm on Friday May 8, to launch VE Day 75 celebrations.
– Read the full interview in Radio Times