One point to bear in mind is that British Prime Ministers only very rarely make formal direct-to-camera addresses. (Party political broadcasts are another matter.) Boris Johnston’s TV address announcing the lockdown was the first since the one by Tony Blair in 2003 at the start of the Iraq war. There is the sense that such addresses, whether by the Queen or the PM, get used only in the most exceptional circumstances. I don’t think Thatcher made one for the Falklands war.
Oh, Good Lord, no, that wouldn’t do At ALL. We don’t want to know what she’s thinking (well we might, but that’s beside the point). Her job is to rise above it all, to be an unflinching constant figurehead who we can all look towards for hope. She’s our flag, not our spokesperson.
See all the trouble Charles has got into over the years for voicing opinions.
It was very noticeable that no part of her speech was ‘It’s you duty to stay at home’, but much more ‘let’s all look forward to a better time and hope that we can look back with pride on our actions’.