Royal Christmas address

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King George V at the Christmas address in 1934

The Royal Christmas Message ( English Queen's Christmas Message or King's Christmas Message for a male monarch) is a speech by the British head of state, which is broadcast annually on Christmas Day in the countries of the Commonwealth of Nations . The tradition began in 1932 with a broadcast broadcast by King George V on the British Broadcasting Corporation Empire Service (now the BBC World Service ). Today the address is broadcast on television , radio and on the Internet by various providers.

history

The idea for a Christmas message from the monarch to the British Empire came from John Reith , founder of the British Broadcasting Corporation . The address was supposed to be the first broadcast of the BBC's new Empire Service . The text of the first address was written by Rudyard Kipling . King George V initially hesitated to use the relatively untested medium of broadcasting. However, after a visit to the BBC he was convinced of the concept and read the message in a temporary studio in Sandringham House . The introduction was spoken by Walton Handy, a 65-year-old shepherd from Ilmington , Warwickshire . Embedded in the program were Christmas carols from the local church choir and the ringing of bells from the local church. It is estimated that the program reached 20 million people in Australia , India , Kenya , South Africa and the United Kingdom .

King Edward VIII abdicated in December 1936 before he could give a Christmas address. His brother George VI. continued his father's broadcasts. The speeches by George V and George VI. play an important role in the 2010 film The King's Speech . Queen Elizabeth II gave her first Christmas address from her study at Sandringham House on December 25, 1952, some eleven months after her father's death. It was first broadcast on television in 1957. The BBC produced the program until 1996. In 1969 there was no Christmas address: instead, the documentary Royal Family was shown, which was made in connection with the investiture of the Prince of Wales .

In 1992 there was a scandal when the tabloid The Sun published the text two days before it was broadcast. The Queen sued the newspaper for copyright infringement. The newspaper then had to pay her legal fees and donate £ 200,000 to charity. The Queen ended the BBC's monopoly and announced that the public television broadcaster would alternate with competitor Independent Television News (ITN) from 1997 . In 2006 the Daily Telegraph reported that she made this decision after the BBC decided to show a controversial interview with Princess Diana in the news journal Panorama . The royal family contradicted this representation and stated that the decision "reflects the composition of today's television and radio industry". In 2011, Sky News joined the producers. The following year, the speech was broadcast in 3DTV format for the first time .

transmission

Typically, the Christmas address will include a review of the major events of the past year (with a particular focus on the Commonwealth of Nations), the monarch's personal milestones, and thoughts about Christmas in general. It is one of the few events in which the monarch turns to the people in any of the Commonwealth Realms without the recommendation of any minister . The planning of an address begins a few months earlier when the monarch defines a topic, after which suitable archive material is collected and compiled; the actual address is recorded a few days before Christmas.

The broadcast has an embargo period that lasts until 15:00 GMT in the UK and on the Internet . The broadcast times differ depending on the country. In New Zealand , Television New Zealand broadcasts the address at 6:50 p.m. local time, in Australia the Australian Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts at 7:20 p.m. local time, and in Canada the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (which is the same as 3:00 p.m.) Clock GMT).

Since 2004, Channel 4 has been broadcasting an “alternative Christmas address” parallel to the Queen's address, given by well-known (often controversial) personalities, often in a satirical and ironic tone.

Web links

Wikisource: Royal Christmas Message  - Sources and full texts (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History of government: The first Christmas speech history.blog.gov.uk, April 24, 2013
  2. ↑ a b c A history of Christmas broadcasts. British Royalty, accessed September 7, 2013 .
  3. ^ The Queen: Art & Image, 1950s to the present. National Portrait Gallery , accessed September 7, 2013 .
  4. ↑ Ben Pimlott : The Queen: Elizabeth II and the Monarchy . HarperCollins, London 2001, ISBN 0-00-255494-1 , pp. 562 .
  5. ↑ Chris Hastings: Queen sacked us over Diana interview, says BBC. The Daily Telegraph , January 29, 2006, accessed September 7, 2013 .
  6. ^ Sky News to produce Queen's Christmas message. British Broadcasting Corporation, January 19, 2011, accessed September 7, 2013 .
  7. ↑ Queen's Christmas Message Will Be In 3D. Sky News , December 20, 2012, accessed September 7, 2013 .