Queen Elizabeth II famously dedicated her "whole life" to public service and was still showing politicians how it's done in her 90s during the coronavirus pandemic.
Britain's longest-reigning monarch made the oft-quoted pledge on her 21st birthday—an age when most young people are finishing university or finding their way in employment.
Even then, it was clear she appreciated the gravity of what was "looming ahead" from her choice of words at a time when she was set to become only Britain's second female monarch in more than 300 years.
During a radio broadcast from Cape Town, South Africa, on April 21, 1947, she said: "There is a motto which has been borne by many of my ancestors—a noble motto, 'I serve.' Those words were an inspiration to many bygone heirs to the Throne when they made their knightly dedication as they came to manhood. I cannot do quite as they did.
"But through the inventions of science I can do what was not possible for any of them. I can make my solemn act of dedication with a whole Empire listening. I should like to make that dedication now. It is very simple.
I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong."
Standing in a country on the brink of Apartheid and 18 years before America granted black people the right to vote, she addressed her words to "all the peoples of the British Commonwealth and Empire, wherever they live, whatever race they come from, and whatever language they speak."
While she was young, it was not her first major speech—that was given seven years earlier on October 13, 1940, a month into the "Blitz" of Britain by the German Luftwaffe.
Children from big cities had been evacuated away from their parents to strangers' homes in the countryside to keep them safe.
Elizabeth and her sister Margaret recorded a special broadcast from Windsor Castle where they too were separated from their parents, who stayed at Buckingham Palace in London during the week.
Aged just 14, she told a homesick generation: "Before I finish I can truthfully say to you all that we children at home are full of cheerfulness and courage. We are trying to do all we can to help our gallant sailors, soldiers and airmen, and we are trying, too, to bear our own share of the danger and sadness of war.
"We know, everyone of us, that in the end all will be well; for God will care for us and give us victory and peace. And when peace comes, remember it will be for us, the children of today, to make the world of tomorrow a better and happier place."
One of Elizabeth's biggest crises came when Princess Diana died in a Paris car crash in 1997 and the royals were caught between the private grieving and a demand for the royals to take part in the unprecedented outpouring of emotion from the public.
Kensington Palace was a sea of flowers, tens of thousands gathered behind crowd control barriers. Some had travelled from as far away as Australia or America, many were in tears. Across Britain impromptu memorials were created by a public gripped by grief the likes of which had never been seen before, the BBC reported.
The family were up at Balmoral, their Scottish holiday retreat, at the time of the tragedy, on August 31, and faced calls for them to return to London from the press and public.
By September 5, the queen had returned to London and in the evening made a speech acknowledging how hard it had been to express their emotions.
She said: "Since last Sunday's dreadful news we have seen, throughout Britain and around the world, an overwhelming expression of sadness at Diana's death.
"We have all been trying in our different ways to cope. It is not easy to express a sense of loss, since the initial shock is often succeeded by a mixture of other feelings: disbelief, incomprehension, anger—and concern for those who remain. We have all felt those emotions in these last few days. So what I say to you now, as your Queen and as a grandmother, I say from my heart."
"This week at Balmoral," she continued, "we have all been trying to help William and Harry come to terms with the devastating loss that they and the rest of us have suffered.
"No-one who knew Diana will ever forget her. Millions of others who never met her, but felt they knew her, will remember her. I for one believe there are lessons to be drawn from her life and from the extraordinary and moving reaction to her death. I share in your determination to cherish her memory."
However, as the queen progressed into her 90s she did not retire like most but distinguished herself afresh.
The coronavirus pandemic sent Britain and countries around the world into lockdown in 2020 and the public needed a message tailored to those over 70 who were likely to be the worst affected.
Just like the teenage Princess Elizabeth who first spoke to her nation 80 years previously, the queen was again detached from her family and isolated at Windsor Castle.
The experience moved her to explicitly invoke that speech to evacuee children, whom she had promised would make "the world of tomorrow a better and happier place."
In a special broadcast on April 5, 2020, she spoke particularly to an older generation, many of whom had been too young to take part in the heroism of the war but who had grown up in the shadow of those who paid the ultimate price.
At the time, the country had recently begun its first coronavirus lockdown with the public plunged into isolation, couped up inside to avoid catching the virus. Home schooled children made rainbow picture in praise of the doctors and nurses risking their lives in hospitals and each Thursday people stood on their doorsteps or hung out of windows to clap for carers.
Elizabeth said: "I hope in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge. And those who come after us will say that the Britons of this generation were as strong as any. That the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet good-humoured resolve and of fellow-feeling still characterise this country. The pride in who we are is not a part of our past, it defines our present and our future.
"The moments when the United Kingdom has come together to applaud its care and essential workers will be remembered as an expression of our national spirit; and its symbol will be the rainbows drawn by children."
In her final words, she invoked perhaps the most famous song of the wartime era in Britain, Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again."
She said: "It reminds me of the very first broadcast I made, in 1940, helped by my sister. We, as children, spoke from here at Windsor to children who had been evacuated from their homes and sent away for their own safety. Today, once again, many will feel a painful sense of separation from their loved ones. But now, as then, we know, deep down, that it is the right thing to do.
"While we have faced challenges before, this one is different. This time we join with all nations across the globe in a common endeavour, using the great advances of science and our instinctive compassion to heal. We will succeed—and that success will belong to every one of us.
"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."
