by Laird o’Thistle
December 23 2010
On Christmas Day at 3 p.m. the Queen’s Christmas Message will be broadcast via radio, television, and the internet to the people of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, and the world.It is something that I do look forward to, though in recent years I’ve tended to view it via the internet, at my leisure, rather than attempting to schedule it in at the appointed hour.(Chosen, I understand, to provide the widest reasonable access across the old Empire and Commonwealth.)
This year marks the 78th anniversary of the first royal Christmas message, made by King George V in 1932, when his granddaughter Princess Elizabeth was six years old.That first broadcast was made in conjunction with the launch of what is now the BBC World Service, and Rudyard Kipling wrote the King’s text.For the first few years, the broadcast was not an annual event.George V made his second, and final, broadcast on Christmas 1935, just a few weeks prior to his death.In it he thanked the peoples of the Empire for their many expressions of support and affection during his Silver Jubilee year.
There was no broadcast in 1936, with Christmas coming only two weeks after the abdication of Edward VIII and the accession of George VI.In 1937 the new King did broadcast, thanking the peoples of Britain and the Empire for their support during his first year on the throne.The new movie, The King’s Speech, highlights the struggle of George VI to speak in public, with live broadcasts being a particular challenge.A recent article in The Telegraph gives insight into the true tale behind the film and notes that Lionel Logue, the King’s speech coach, often joined the royal family for Christmas lunch at Sandringham so as to be on hand for the broadcast.See The King’s Speech: How Lionel Logue Cured King George VI’s Stammer.
It was the beginning of World War II in 1939 that finally made the Christmas Message a regular event.And it was in the 1939 message that George VI famously quoted the lines from the poem “God Knows” by Minnie Louise Haskins.
I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year
‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’
And he replied,
‘Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!’
So I went forth and finding the Hand of God
Trod gladly into the night
He led me towards the hills
And the breaking of day in the lone east.
So heart be still!
What need our human life to know
If God hath comprehension?
In all the dizzy strife of things
Both high and low,
God hideth his intention.”
Twelve years later, in 1951, George VI’s last Christmas broadcast was pre-recorded, the only one he did that way, and he died just a few weeks later in early February.
The current Queen made her first broadcast in 1952 from Sandringham, sitting in the same chair at the same desk used by her grandfather and father before her.The following year she spoke from Auckland, New Zealand, during the course of her Coronation Tour around the world.In 1957 the Christmas broadcast was televised live for the first time, again from Sandringham House… the television equipment and crew apparently creating quite a chilly draft with all the openings needed for cables and such. In 1959 the message was pre-recorded because the Queen was pregnant with Prince Andrew, who was born in February.In 1963, pregnant with Prince Edward and in the wake of the Kennedy assassination, H.M. reverted to radio only for the broadcast.The first color broadcast was in 1967.
In 1969 the Queen took a break.That year’s Investiture of the Prince of Wales, and the release of the Royal Family film were sufficient, she thought.But the broadcasts resumed, due in part to popular demand, the following year.Over the ensuing years the message, now pre-recorded, featured a variety of settings, and media clips from significant events with the Queen doing the voice-over.In 1997 the broadcast was produced for the first time by the Independent Television Network and went out for the first time via the internet as well.It was the year of Princess Diana’s death, and of the Queen and Prince Phillip’s 50th wedding anniversary.In 2006 the message as released via podcast for the first time.
In recent years Queen Elizabeth II has several times referred to her own deeply held Christian faith, and also addressed the role of faith and faith communities in British society.Other recurrent themes are family and the diversity of modern British society.
In the years when the broadcast was still done live the Queen’s Christmas was reportedly more a day for butterflies than festivity.And over the years she seems to have preferred to retire alone to a room where she can watch herself without others around.
What will this year’s message include?I’d dare to venture that Prince William and Catherine Middleton’s engagement will rate a mention.The long-awaited, but still surprise, engagement of Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall probably won’t, unless there’s an unlikely last minute re-do.What else?The wars, economic struggles, possibly the Pope’s visit, and best wishes from the Queen to the people of Britain, the Commonwealth, and the world.
Much is made of the falling ratings across the years for the broadcast.But I’d wonder how the ratings change when one looks at subsequent internet hits and such.Who knows, I may watch it this year via Facebook.
Ken Cutherbertson