Britain's Queen Elizabeth invokes wartime spirit to 'never despair'

Queen Elizabeth II invoked the wartime spirit on Friday to "never despair" as Britain marked 75 years since the end of World War II in Europe amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

In a televised message, the 94-year-old monarch said those who had served during the conflict with Nazi Germany in the 1940s would admire how their descendants were coping with COVID-19 and the lockdown imposed to curb its spread.

Britain has the highest death toll in Europe from COVID-19 at more than 30,000, a number second only to the United States.

"At the start, the outlook seemed bleak, the end distant, the outcome uncertain," she added. "Never give up, never despair, that was the message of VE Day."