Queen Elizabeth’s address to her subjects in respect of the corona virus stirs our republican spirits. It’s not that she unloaded a lot of information that Britons, or Americans, were heretofore lacking. It’s hard to reckon that she had much more of a briefing than a newspaper editor could get. Nor was it her eloquence, though her remarks were well-enough crafted.

Rather, the power of royal remarks like the ones Her Majesty just made comes from the unique nature of her constitutional role and the extraordinary span in which she has been sovereign. It is the complete divorce from politics and partisanship, the devotion to all her subjects, and the distillation that such remarks have to go through in order to be utterable by her.

Not to suggest that the Queen lacks for real emotion. She recalled that the first time she broadcast to her subjects — by radio, with her sister, in 1940 “from here at Windsor to children who had been evacuated from their homes and sent away for their own safety,” as the Queen put it, adding “today, once again, many will feel a painful sense of separation from their loved ones.”

The Queen’s address was a rare event (she does speak annually at Christmas and opens parliaments). She made a point of drawing a distinction between the current crisis and earlier ones. “This time we join with all nations across the globe in a common endeavor, 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.”

Little more than a week ago, the sovereign’s son, Prince Charles, a future king, tested positive for covid-19, and was self-isolating, though he is out of it now. Sunday evening, too, brought news that Elizabeth’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, has been unable to shake the fever that can come with corona and has been moved to a hospital. That’s no small moment.

America also has, in its president, a head of state. Neither President Trump, though, nor any president, has, or should have, a role quite like that of a British sovereign. Neither Mr. Trump, nor any president, can really speak apolitically. We won’t let our republican sentiments stop us from appreciating the Queen’s remarks as our countries work on our special relationship in a world that will be forever changed.