The 2017 Broadcast

Location:  Buckingham Palace

Produced by:  Sky

Theme: 

Using the over-arching umbrella of 'home' as a framework, Elizabeth II covers a number of diverse topics.  The Queen remembers the victims of the terrorist attacks in London and Manchester and the Grenfell Tower fire which had occurred during 2017, recalling her meetings with survivors  Her Majesty pays tribute to her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, with whom she had celebrated seventy years of marriage the previous month and who had retired from public life earlier in the year.  The Queen also references her first televised Christmas broadcast, live from her Sandringham home sixty years earlier in 1957.  Elizabeth II looks ahead to 2018, saying she looks forward to welcoming 'new members' to her family, while she will host 'a different type of family' as Commonwealth leaders arrive in the UK for a summit.

Commentary:  

Production reverted to Sky News, who had last produced the memorable 2012 Broadcast.  Stylistically, the look is pretty similar to the ITN broadcasts of the previous two years, with the Queen seated alongside a desk, surrounded by family photographs and with a large flower arrangement in the fireplace.  The choice of room was the 1844 Room in Buckingham Palace, last seen in the first Sky-produced Broadcast of 2011.  This is the seventh consecutive Broadcast to be filmed at Buckingham Palace:  the Sky-BBC-ITN rota has now gone full-circle without moving beyond the 'default' location.  This is the fifth consecutive time that Her Majesty had delivered her message from a seated position after having stood for ten consecutive Broadcasts.  The 'seated' look seems far more natural now than it did when it returned in 2013.

Given the theme of 'home', there are even more family photographs than usual around the Queen:  wedding and 70th Anniversary portraits of the Queen and Prince Philip take pride of place along with photographs of her Cambridge great-grandchildren Prince George and Princess Charlotte.  Further out there is a photograph of the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, marking the Duchess' 70th birthday and, at the far left of the camera view, an engagement portrait of Prince Harry and his fiancée, American actress  Meghan Markle.

The production opens with God Save the Queen performed by the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra and Choir.  The segment was recorded at the Guildhall in London. The camera then cuts to the front of Buckingham Palace in watery winter sunshine;  then a shot of the London skyline behind the Royal Standard flying from the Palace flagpole gives an impressive view before the Queen appears.  A few moments are played of the Queen's first televised Christmas Broadcast sixty years earlier (though not to the extent of the 50th anniversary in 2007).  Footage, which had been released at the time of the tragedy, is played of the Queen meeting victims and families of the Manchester bombing.  At the end of the production, the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra return to sing the carol It Came Upon A Midnight Clear;  this is interspersed with a montage of senior members of the royal family at work during the year, including the Duke of Edinburgh's final official engagement and the engagement photo call of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Many media outlets commented on the Queen's decision to 'welcome' Meghan Markle to the royal family by referring to 'new members' joining in 2018.  Of course, the oblique reference can also be extended to include the arrival of the third child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, due in April.

Notes:

Elizabeth II's Christmas Message was available on US television for the first time through the Britbox 'best of British' streaming service.

Elizabeth II is described as wearing an ivory white dress by Angela Kelly, which she had first worn for the Diamond Jubilee Thames River Pageant in 2012. The dress is 'threaded throughout with silk ribbon. Embroidered with gold, silver and ivory spots, the garment was embellished with Swarovski crystals and a silk organza frill.'

With an estimated 7.6 million viewers in the UK, the Queen topped the provisional Christmas Day ratings for the fourth consecutive year, beating competition from the Mrs Brown's Boys, Strictly Come Dancing and Doctor Who Christmas specials.

The Queen is not exactly one of her family's most notable public joke-tellers, but she makes particular use of humour in this Broadcast, albeit delivered in her customary 'deadpan' manner.  Regarding her 70th wedding anniversary, Her Majesty observes 'I don’t know that anyone had invented the term “platinum” for a seventieth wedding anniversary when I was born. You weren’t expected to be around that long.'  After the brief clip of her first televised message in 1957, the Queen, referring to herself in the 'third person', quips about her inevitably changed appearance: 'Six decades on, the presenter has ‘evolved’ somewhat, as has the technology she described.'

There was some social media speculation that, by referencing her first televised Christmas speech, the Queen was acknowledging that she watches the Nexflix series  The Crown, a fictionalised dramatisation of the early years of her reign.  The speech was recreated in series two, with Claire Foy playing the monarch.  Sorry to disappoint, but the Queen had paid even more attention to her first televised speech back in 2007, the fiftieth anniversary, when The Crown had not even been conceived!

Trivia:

We don't usually consider Her Majesty to be the 'presenter' of her annual ten minutes of television; if we did, Queen Elizabeth II would hold the British record as longest-serving presenter of a single television programme by some distance, eclipsing Sir Patrick Moore's impressive 55 years fronting The Sky At Night.

Intriguingly,  this was the first time since 1990 that the Queen had delivered her Message without spectacles.

Most of the photographs surrounding the Queen had already been publicly released.  The photograph of Prince George was taken by Chris Jackson to mark the prince's fourth birthday;  the portrait of Princess Charlotte was taken by her mother, the Duchess of Cambridge, to mark her second birthday;  the photo of the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall was taken by Mario Testino in 2017 to mark the Duchess' 70th birthday;  the 70th wedding anniversary portrait of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh is one of a series taken by British photographer Matt Holyoak.

Some media suggested that Elizabeth II hinted in her Message that she intends to follow the Duke Of Edinburgh into 'retirement', on the somewhat tenuous grounds that she chose to pay tribute to her husband, who had stood down from public life in 2017.  Britain's Mail On Sunday had been pushing Regency rumours throughout the summer, standing by their source even after it became apparent that they were flogging a dead horse.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was Mail Online who first picked up on Her Majesty's comments!

It emerged in the 2018 ITV documentary Queen of the World that the radio version of the 2017 broadcast had been gatecrashed by the sound of a chirping bird, forcing Her Majesty to re-record the speech from the beginning.

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The 1968 Broadcast

Location:  Buckingham Palace

Produced by:  BBC

Theme:  Elizabeth II discusses 'the brotherhood of man'.  Recalling that Christmas it the time when Christians celebrate the birth of Christ, the Prince Of Peace, the Queen talks of the importance of peace, friendship and co-operation.  Her Majesty states that the concept of 'the brotherhood of man' should not remain in the abstract: 'Each of us can put it into practice by treating one another with kindness and consideration at all times and in spite of every kind of provocation.'

Commentary:   This second colour Broadcast is described by Ingrid Seward as 'arguably one of [the Queen's] most political to date (The Queen's Speech, 2015).  At a time which saw early signs of problems in Northern Ireland and industrial unrest in many parts of the United Kingdom, it is not difficult to understand why the Queen thought it important to address serious matters.  Though she does it in her customary unifying and non-partisan way, raising these topics still required a considerable amount of delicacy.  British prime minister Harold Wilson, sensitive about the devaluation of the pound, took exception to a reference in the original draft to Britain's 'economic difficulties', which was later changed.  Similarly, when Her Majesty suggests that 'we should seek to support those international organisations which foster understanding between people and between nations', although well intentioned, such obliqueness runs the risk of being left open to political interpretations.

Buckingham Palace's Bow Room is used for the fifth and final consecutive time.  In the age of colour television, greater attention had to be paid to colour co-ordination and the avoidance of clashes;  also it is important that the Queen is not seen to be wearing the same colour for two consecutive years!  The Bow Room is given its most sumptuous make-over yet;  the drapes and carpet are different from the previous year, though the chairs and sofas are apparently the same.  The colour scheme gives the impression of a rather stylish, late 1960s west London flat rather than a royal palace; but the antique chairs and table - and of course the ornate gold edging on the walls - give the game away!

The Broadcast begins with images of busy London thoroughfares - Westminster and The Mall - in high summer.  Traffic moves busily by as the titles state grandly (albeit in a fashionably sickly yellow) in sequence - "London, 1968...A Christmas Message...To The Peoples of the Commonwealth..." and finally, as Big Ben, surrounded by trees in full leaf chimes 3 o'clock, "...Her Majesty the Queen".  Big Ben finishes its chimes;  Buckingham Palace appears (also surrounded by trees in full leaf, with traffic breezing by);  the camera cuts to the Queen.  It is a curious illusion as it is plain for all to see that the opening shots are anything but live;  it is hard to imagine central London on Christmas Day afternoon itself looking more different with its deserted roads, grey skies and bare trees.  The Palace made no pretence about the Broadcast being anything other than pre-recorded, but it does seem rather odd to give the impression that it was recorded months, rather than only a few days, in advance!

The Queen speaks the entirety of her message in camera view, uninterrupted in these early days of colour by interspersed footage.  The camera pans slowly in and out while she speaks before moving in for a dramatic close-up for her  closing remarks.  Her Majesty is clearly using an autocue, but glances at her script periodically to break the monotony.

At the end of the production, a rousing choral version of God Save the Queen is played while footage is shown of the royal family leaving the service at St George's Chapel, Windsor on Christmas Day the previous year.  As the anthem ends we are treated to some audio as the Dean of Windsor, Robin Woods, greets members of the family as they leave.  This could be a precursor of the landmark Royal Family documentary which would be shown the following year, although most of what we can hear is the ingratiating manner of the Dean (perhaps a prerequisite of the job when one is in charge of a royal peculiar):  'yes, I saw you were talking to...', the Dean says heartily to the Queen as Her Majesty gesticulates as though hailing a taxi.  'The Lord be with you...and in the New Year!' he says to the Queen Mother,  gripping her hand tightly as she descends the last few steps.  The programme ends with impressive long shots of Windsor Castle's Round Tower .

Notes:

The first draft of the part of the text that Harold Wilson's Government had objected to read: ' Every individual and every nation have their problems. Some are more pressing than others. Britain is not the only Commonwealth country contending with serious economic difficulties. Fortunately there are others who are enjoying better times, and this is certainly the moment for us all to do our utmost to help each other.'  This was later changed to: 'Every individual and every nation have problems, so there is all the more reason for us to do our utmost to show our concern for others.'

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1969 - No Broadcast

Elizabeth II's written Christmas message, 1969

Ironically, 1969 is one of the most famous years in the history of the Christmas Broadcast, for the simple fact that there wasn't one.  Few potted histories of the annual Message seem to get by without an honourable mention of this year.  It was the first time in more than thirty years that there had been no Royal Christmas Message aired on Christmas Day, and remains, to date, the only year of her reign in which Elizabeth II has not broadcast.

The Buckingham Palace postmen, already trying to cope with the extra the seasonal mail, must have been positively groaning under the strain of the extra sack loads from concerned subjects wondering what had gone wrong.  Then, a few days before Christmas, the redoubtable Mrs Mary Whitehouse of the National Viewers and Listeners Association, best remembered for her tireless efforts to purge our television screens of what actually was on rather than what wasn't, turned up at the gates of Buckingham Palace with a 20,000-strong petition comprising letters from members of the public 'regretting' the Queen's decision not to broadcast on Christmas Day.

Mary Whitehouse and friends with a very British protest;  December ,1969

The official reason for the absence of a Broadcast of any form in 1969 is that, given the presence of the Royal Family documentary that year (which was being repeated on Christmas Day), offering an intimate portrait of the Windsors at work and at play; and also the televised investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of  Wales, the Queen felt that the public had seen enough of her on television for one year.  Her Majesty had probably seen enough of film crews for one year, too.  It has also been put forward that the Broadcast may have been shelved as a sign of the Queen's displeasure at interference in the content of the previous year's speech from prime minister Harold Wilson.  Also, given concern about declining audience figures during the 1960s, it is also possible that the break was a way of "testing the water" as to whether people still wanted the annual Broadcast.

Elizabeth II and her children, Christmas 1968. From the documentary 'Royal Family'

 The Palace were clearly taken aback by the scale of the public response, so much so that at the beginning of her short written message, released from Windsor Castle on Christmas Day, Elizabeth II acknowledges the many messages she had received on the matter and offers a reassuring hint that the break is temporary, while assuring her subjects that 'my good wishes are no less warm and personal because they come to you in a different form.'

Notes:

The Royal Family documentary of 1969 is subject to a certain amount of collective cognitive dissonance from commentators.  It is regarded as both hugely successful and a mistake.  On the one hand, there was a significant popularity bounce for the monarchy and a massive amount of interest in the British royal family, who were portrayed as an ordinary, happy family.  However, therein lay the problem - the Windsors perhaps came across as too ordinary, thus risking the magic and mystique that monarchy depends upon as well as opening the family up to a scrutiny which it had hitherto unknown.  As a result, the programme has never been shown again in its entirety and remains locked away in a BBC vault on the Queen's instructions.   Nevertheless, the family must have enjoyed a rapport with the documentary's producer, Richard Cawston.  The following year Cawston was asked to take charge of the Christmas Broadcast, and continued as producer until his death in 1986.

The 1970 Broadcast

Location:  Buckingham Palace

Produced by:  BBC

Theme: The Queen devotes almost all of this message to discussion of the Commonwealth, in the bicentennial year of Captain Cook's discovery of Australia.  Elizabeth II recalls the many thousands of miles she had travelled during the year visiting Commonwealth countries such as Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand and Australia early in the year followed by Canada, the North-west Territories and Manitoba later on.  The Queen stresses the ties between the Commonwealth Countries and Britain.


Commentary:  After the hiatus of 1969, the Broadcast was back for the 1970s with a revamp.  Richard Cawston, who had been behind the successful 1969 documentary Royal Family, was drafted in as producer and wasted no time in bringing in production values which would equip Elizabeth II's annual message for the golden age of television.  Whereas in the 1960s the Christmas Message had been a televised speech, it would from this point be a polished television production.

The Broadcast centres on what had been a particularly well-travelled year for the Queen.  At the start of the production we see Her Majesty standing behind a large globe, addressing the camera about some of the many Commonwealth countries she had visited during the year.  Always keen to speak of her love of the Commonwealth, in this Message more than any other Elizabeth II focuses almost entirely on the 'family of nations'. As she speaks, film of the Queen from some of the year's tours is shown, including footage from Australia, New Zealand and Canada.  External footage had been shown in previous Broadcasts, of course, but from now on such sequences would increasingly form part of the annual production.

The later part of the production sees Elizabeth II speaking to camera from the desk of what contemporary publicity describes as her own sitting room at Buckingham Palace.  A little research does indeed seem to identify this as the Queen's Sitting Room previously used by Queen Mary and earlier still by Queen Victoria.  If this truly is Elizabeth II's private sitting room, then Her Majesty may have been persuaded to allow the cameras in as a result of a desire on the part of her subjects to get "up close and personal" with the Monarch and her family following the success of Royal Family.  Also, producer Richard Cawston may have striven for authenticity:  in the 1960s the Bow Room had been professionally arranged to give the appearance of a comfortable sitting room, but as a set-up it was demonstrably false.  It must be pointed out, however, that the Queen's Sitting Room has - to date- been used only on this one occasion.  Her Majesty must surely have found the presence of a television crew in her private apartments disruptive and the following year the far more suitable Regency Room would begin its long association with the Christmas Broadcast.

If there had been concern in Palace circles that audience figures for the Queen's Christmas Message had been in decline in the 1960s, then albeit unintentionally, perhaps the best publicity of all had been not to produce a Broadcast in 1969.  The production could no longer be taken for granted and would go on to become a cherished part of festive viewing throughout the 1970s and beyond.

Notes:

Despite the revamped production it is noticeable (and somewhat distracting) during the later part of the Broadcast that the Queen is not using an autocue (teleprompter).  Time and again, Elizabeth II glances at the script in front of her and at one point nearly stumbles on her words.  Looking back at the Broadcasts of the 1960s it would appear that Her Majesty had long since overcome her initial reservations and succumbed to the device, so the reasons for its apparent absence here are lost in time.

Throughout this Broadcast Elizabeth II wears the New Zealand Fern Brooch, presented to Her Majesty in Auckland on Christmas Day 1953, during her Commonwealth world tour.

Trivia: 

This is the only Broadcast in which the Queen wears a single strand pearl necklace.

Elizabeth II has at least three known desks at Buckingham Palace where she has been photographed or filmed at work at various points during her reign:  in the Regency Room, the Queen's Audience Chamber and here, the Queen's Sitting Room.  It seems that the Queen's Sitting Room is by far the most private and least seen of the three, indeed the Queen does not appear to have been pictured here since this Broadcast.

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The 1971 Broadcast

Location:  Buckingham Palace

Produced by:  BBC

Theme:  Elizabeth II talks about the importance of family, with a particular emphasis on children and the future.  As part of her theme of blending the the past and the future with the present, during the Broadcast Her Majesty looks at a photograph album with her two younger children, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.  The Queen expresses her belief that peace on earth can be found through the message of Christmas.

Commentary:  In 1958, in her second (and last) live television Christmas broadcast, Elizabeth II politely acknowledged, but declined, public requests for her young children Prince Charles and Princes Anne to appear in the Broadcast.  After giving the matter some thought, the Queen and Prince Philip had felt that an appearance on live television would be too much of an ordeal and (given the unpredictability of small children) too much of a risk for two so young.  By 1971 things were different;  the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were far more experienced, not just as monarch and consort but as parents.  The two younger princes had enjoyed a more relaxed family upbringing than their older siblings; also, the age of pre-recording meant that editing was possible and with the trusted Richard Cawston in charge of production, the Queen and her husband felt confident enough to allow princes Andrew and Edward to take part in a Broadcast.

Prince Andrew (then aged eleven) and Prince Edward (then seven) are undeniably the stars of the production, in what has become one of the iconic sequences in the history of Elizabeth II's Christmas broadcasts.  Smartly-dressed and impeccably well-behaved, the two boys do occasionally appear a little underwhelmed by proceedings.  The Queen sits with her two younger children on the Regency Room sofa, a photograph album in front of them.  Her Majesty briefly addresses the camera before she schools her sons in a little family history, a subject on which they seem a little shaky:  they fail to identify their great-grandparents King George V and Queen Mary, while in another photograph they even misidentify their young mother as Princess Anne - Andrew should really have known this stuff by then!  The boys become more attentive when they see a picture of their mother 'life-saving':  'You didn't know I could do that?' asks the Queen.

Once the segment with the young princes is over, the Queen delivers the rest of her speech from behind her desk in the Regency Room.  This would be the default setting for the next four Broadcasts.  The desk is situated in what is still pretty much its usual place today, though  in the late 1980s and early 1990s it would be moved around as David Attenborough experimented with his 'Christmassy' sets.

The Regency Room of Buckingham Palace had been used as the location for a Broadcast once before, in 1962, though this year would begin its long twenty year dominance as the 'default' location of the annual production.  The Queen's private sitting room, used the previous year, was never going to be a viable long-term option as a recording venue;  it would have been disruptive for the Queen and restrictive for the production team.  The Regency Room seemed like a perfect solution;  not strictly speaking part of the royal family's private apartments, yet not as public or imposingly grand as Buckingham Palace's more well-known state rooms, it is described as a 'comfortable green-coloured ground-floor sitting room, dominated by Strochling's portrait of Princess Sophia, [normally] a place for royal drinks.'  The Regency Room would provide a cosy 'at home with the Queen' feel, allowing the production team to experiment creatively and test for lighting and sound without getting too much in the way of the Monarch and her family.

Elizabeth II's camera style seems notably more relaxed and self-assured than the previous year;  Her Majesty's confidence as a television performer would improve as the decade progressed, perhaps helped by the familiar presence of Richard Cawston.  In this broadcast the Queen at last seems at home with the autocue/teleprompter:  although a paper script was in front of her (and would remain as a stand-by for a few more years) she does not refer to it at all.

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The 1972 Broadcast

Location:  Buckingham Palace

Produced by:  BBC

Theme:  In the year of her Silver Wedding celebrations, Elizabeth II thanks members of the public for their good wishes and speaks of the importance of the Christian ideal of an enduring marriage between a man and a woman.  At a time of escalating sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, Her Majesty extends her sympathy and support to the people of the Province.  The Queen also looks ahead to Britain's accession to the European Economic Community (Common Market) and ponders the new relationship Britain will have with both the EEC and the existing Commonwealth.

Commentary:  If it can be said that any one of Elizabeth II's many Christmas messages has not aged particularly well, it would probably be this one - at least in part. For a constitutional monarch to comment on Britain's securing membership to the European Economic Community (Common Market) was always going to be potentially hazardous given the controversies regarding application, but one can only assume, in view of the momentous historical implications of accession, as well as concerns in Britain and the Commonwealth, that Her Majesty thought it important that she should.  In the Message, the Queen's attitude towards membership can perhaps best be described as gently positive, but with the benefit of hindsight some biographers have been critical of her approach.  Andrew Marr describes Elizabeth II's hopes for a wider 'family of nations' as 'pious but, given the rivalries, implausible' (The Diamond Queen, 2012);  Ben Pimlott put it more harshly: 'political and economic nonsense, a desperate bid to evade the reality' (The Queen, 1996).  The fact was that the EEC and the Commonwealth were, where  Britain was concerned, in competition with each other.

One would have thought that British prime minister Edward Heath would have been pleased that Elizabeth II was prepared to give what he would come to see as his great achievement a cautious welcome.  Instead, Heath began what became something of a habit and upon seeing the transcript tried to interfere in the content of the Message.  According to documents released from the National Archives, Heath told the Queen that she could only mention Britain's forthcoming accession to the EEC if she mentioned her (predominantly German) 'continental relations'.  The Queen's advisers objected, stating that such references would make the broadcast unnecessarily long and could lead to 'snide remarks' from some sections of the public, given the two world wars which were still very much within living memory and lingering anti-German sentiment in Britain.  In the event, Her Majesty did not mention her European relations and spoke about the EEC anyway.

 

On a brighter note, the Queen talks about her Silver Wedding celebrations and her happy marriage to Prince Philip.  Back in November this had been the first of Elizabeth II's personal milestone anniversaries to be publicly celebrated during her reign.  Footage from the public events is shown during the Broadcast

The Regency Room 'set' looks near-identical to the previous year;  the basic arrangement would remain in place until the middle of the decade.  The Queen is filmed at desk level, periodically moving in to close-up.  Her Majesty's outfit was perhaps the most imaginative since she switched to 'daywear' for her Christmas Broadcasts in the early 1960s;  contemporary publicity describes the Queen as wearing 'a dress of fine lemon yellow wool, with embroidery around the neck, sleeves and down the front of the dress'.

Notes:  

In 2016 the United Kingdom voted in a referendum to leave the European Union, a process which has become commonly known as 'Brexit'.  In that year, unlike 1972, Elizabeth II made no reference to the potential impact of the decision on Britain's future.  This is perhaps representative of a shift away from reflecting on political matters in her Christmas messages in recent decades and a more noticeable emphasis on faith, family and community work.

Trivia: 

Elizabeth II and her father George VI had been the first British monarchs since William III (reigned 1689-1702) to reign with a predecessor still living.  This situation ended in the spring of 1972 when the Duke of Windsor, who had abdicated as King Edward VIII in December 1936, died in France on 28th May at the age of 77.  The Queen does not mention her uncle's death in her Message.

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The 2016 Broadcast

Location:  Buckingham Palace

Produced by:  ITN

Theme:  Elizabeth II talks on the subject of 'inspiration', whether it comes from the sportsmen and women who performed so well for Britain and Commonwealth countries in the 2016 Olympics, or the 'unsung heroes' , who Her Majesty describes as 'ordinary people doing extraordinary things'.  The Queen recalls that she herself drew inspiration from the charity volunteers who attended the 'Patrons' Lunch' to mark her ninetieth birthday earlier in the year.  The Queen remarks that 'the cumulative impact of thousands of small acts of goodness can be bigger than we imagine'.  Elizabeth II closes by describing the inspiration that she herself and others draw from being followers of Jesus Christ: 'I am one of them because Christ’s example helps me see the value of doing small things with great love, whoever does them and whatever they themselves believe.'

Commentary:  For the first time in twenty-five years, the Broadcast returned 'home' to the Regency Room of Buckingham Palace.  Between 1971 and 1991, this cosy sitting room was its 'default' location; but when production returned to Buckingham Palace in 1998 after a seven-year break the room, which forms part of the Queen's 'semi private' apartments, was neglected in favour of the grander state rooms.  Much as earlier producers Richard Cawston and David Attenborough had done during television's 'golden age', ITN are at pains to make the Regency Room look homely and cosy.  It does, however, look a considerably different 'set' from the days of the 1970s and 1980s;  the layout closely resembles the previous year's production, which had taken place in the 18th Century Room.  The photographs of Prince Philip and Prince Charles are referenced in Her Majesty's speech, with regard to their work with the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and The Prince's Trust respectively.  The Regency Room fireplace, rarely (if ever) seen during the long years of filming here, is well showcased as a centrepiece of the 'set'.

The production is 'bookended' by the Massed Bands of the Foot Guards.  God Save The Queen is played at the beginning;  in a pleasing flourish, musical director Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Roberts salutes towards the camera as the music ends.  At the close of the broadcast, part of A Christmas Intrada by American composer Alfred Reed is played.

The Queen's Christmas message topped the UK Christmas Day television ratings for the third consecutive year, with a combined audience of 7.7 million.

Notes:

When the United Kingdom joined the European Economic Community in 1972, Elizabeth II discussed in her end of year message the implications of how Britain could successfully manage membership of both the EEC and the Commonwealth.  In 2016, the people of the UK voted to leave what had since become the European Union, but Her Majesty makes no mention of 'Brexit'.  It is interesting to note how, over the years, the Queen's Christmas speeches have moved away from political themes and towards placing a stronger emphasis on human goodwill at an essential level, such as the 'unsung heroes' theme of this Broadcast.

The faith and optimism which, year after year, are hallmarks of the Queen's annual message may have been a comfort to her as Christmas 2016 was tinged with sadness for Elizabeth II.  In late November her cousin and lifelong friend Margaret Rhodes, a familiar face to viewers of royal documentaries, died aged 91 following a short illness.  The Queen attended her funeral in December.  Then, on Christmas Eve, news broke that the Queen's granddaughter Zara Tindall and husband Mike had lost their baby;  the couple had only recently announced the pregnancy.  Also, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh had been forced to delay their departure to Sandringham for their Christmas break due to heavy colds, ultimately arriving a day later than planned by helicopter.  The Queen was not sufficiently recovered to attend church on Christmas Day, missing the service for the first time since 1988.

Trivia:

Whenever a clock is present in vision in a production, it is always carefully set to 3 o'clock for the moment the Queen starts speaking, the time the Message is broadcast on Christmas Day.

The photograph at the side of Elizabeth II which shows her with the Prince of Wales had been taken the previous May by society photographer Nick Knight to mark Her Majesty's 90th birthday but had only been released a few days earlier.

The Queen's outfit in this Broadcast caused a small amount of amusement on social media as some likened it to the uniforms of the officers of the USS Enterprise from the original Star Trek series.

A few days prior to the Broadcast being aired, a study of questionable purpose was published by mathematicians at University College, London.  The report claimed that the Queen's annual message was 'one of the most predictable and repetitive television programmes of Christmas', with Her Majesty using only 3,991 'distinct' words (i.e. words used only once) out of a total of 42,000, thus putting her vocabulary on a level with rappers such as Snoop Dog and Jay Z.  The findings seem to tell us more about the difficulties of reconciling the timeless and unchanging message of Christmas with the dryness of academia than they do about Queen Elizabeth II.

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The 1973 Broadcast

Location:  Buckingham Palace

Produced by:  BBC

Theme:  In the year that Princess Anne became the first of her children to marry, Elizabeth II speaks of the importance of family and friends.  The Queen recalls the public enthusiasm for the wedding as well as the gathering of the Commonwealth 'family' at the Heads of Government meeting.  Her Majesty also remembers those who are not fortunate enough to have a network of support and those who seek to help them: 'there are many people of all ages who go out to help the old and the lonely, the sick and the handicapped. I am sure that, in so doing, they find the real happiness that comes from serving and thinking of others.'  Recalling Christ's example, the Queen concludes that the qualities of the human spirit 'are more important than material gain'.

Commentary:  This is the third of four consecutive Broadcasts in which essentially the same 'set' is used:  a slight re-arrangement of the usual appearance of the Regency Room.  Elizabeth II glows in bright pink while, as with the previous two years, there is a large bunch of fresh flowers behind Her Majesty adding to the carefully choreographed cheerfulness.  The Queen certainly appears relaxed and happy as she talks about her daughter's wedding while exclusive behind-the-scenes images from the occasion earlier in the year are shown.

However, Elizabeth II's focus on family and Commonwealth may not have been the whole story of the 1973 Message.  Beneath the festive cheeriness, the United Kingdom was enduring what history tends to characterise as an era of power cuts, 'three-day weeks' and public sector strikes.  It is claimed that British prime minister Edward Heath (who is also accused of interfering in the content of the 1972 Message) 'censored' the Queen's attempts to express in her speech her 'deep concern' at the 'special difficulties Britain is now facing', considering the proposed comments 'alarmist' and 'bad for morale'.  On the other hand, Robert Armstrong, a senior civil servant who served as Principle Private Secretary under Heath, denies rumours of 'terse notes' being passed between Downing Street and Buckingham Palace officials over the speech, stating that Heath 'considered the Queen's Christmas message to be her own affair about which he did not need to be formally consulted and on which he would never have done more than offer a tentative suggestion if he had been' (Ziegler, Edward Heath, 2010).  Two months after the 1973 Message was broadcast, Edward Heath would lose power in the 'snap' general election which he called in February 1974.  The following Christmas, Elizabeth II was finally at liberty to address Britain's economic difficulties in her annual message.

Notes:

There are two versions of the postscript that Elizabeth II wanted to add to her 1973 Message, both of which were vetoed by Downing Street for being too 'political':

1. "Because my Christmas broadcast goes to all the Commonwealth, it had to be recorded some time ago, before the special difficulties which Britain is now facing came upon us. I cannot let Christmas pass without speaking to you directly of these difficulties because they are of deep concern to all of us as individuals and as a nation.
 "Different people have different views, deeply and sincerely felt, about our problems and how they should be solved. Let us remember, however, that what we have in common is more important than what divides us."

2.  "I cannot let Christmas pass without speaking to you directly of the hardship and difficulties with which so many are faced because of deep concern to all of us as individuals and as a nation.
"But I have felt that Christmas is so much a family occasion that you would not wish me to harp on these difficulties, but to let you hear and see something which was recorded some time ago about events in the Commonwealth family and in my own family."

Trivia:

Elizabeth II does not appear to be wearing her familiar pearls on this occasion, which makes 1973 unique among her Christmas Broadcasts.

 

 

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The 1974 Broadcast

Location:  Buckingham Palace

Produced by:  BBC

Theme:  The Queen concentrates on problems; in Britain, the Commonwealth and the wider world.  Citing Britain's economic difficulties and alluding to the famine during the year in Bangladesh and floods in Brisbane, Australia, Elizabeth II observes that 'in the last year everything seems to have happened at once'.  However, the Queen cautions against pessimism, stating that 'the trouble with gloom is that it feeds upon itself and depression causes more depression.'  Her Majesty urges people to unite and come together to confront the current problems and praises the system of Parliamentary Government, a 'product of British genius' which had been successfully exported by Britain, as a means of ensuring rights and peacefully resolving conflict.  Despite the world's problems, the Queen wishes to offer 'encouragement and hope', reminding her audience that 'the first Christmas came at a time that was dark and threatening, but from it came the light of the world.'

Commentary:  For some time Elizabeth II had wanted to address Britain's economic difficulties in her Christmas speeches but had been prevented from doing so.  The previous year, Conservative prime minister Edward Heath had reportedly censored references to the problems in the Queen's annual message.  In 1974 Heath had lost power and Labour's Harold Wilson, who himself had objected to planned references to the economy in the 1968 Message, was back for his second stint as prime minister.  Ever the canny political operator, Wilson probably calculated that by Christmas the previous Conservative government would still be held responsible for the state of the economy;  consequently Elizabeth II was at last free to talk about the struggles being encountered by many of her subjects.

Some may describe this as one of Elizabeth II's 'sombre' speeches, but as always when her Christmas messages tackle serious matters, the Queen takes a positive standpoint, encouraging a spirit of hope.  There is an echo of the wartime spirit the young Elizabeth grew up with when the Queen says ' we are an inventive and tenacious people and the comradeship of adversity brings out the best in us'.  This is certainly not a message of festering gloom.

The production itself sticks to the essentials, so the emphasis is on Elizabeth II's words.  The Broadcast begins with a specially filmed rendition of God Save the Queen played by a band of guardsmen in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace.  Towards the end, the camera pans upwards to the flagpole where the Royal Standard flies, before cutting to the Queen.  This is the fourth and final time the arrangement of the Regency Room first seen in 1971 is used as the 'set'.

Trivia:

Prime ministers come and go (and in Wilson's case, come back again), but Elizabeth II never mentions any of them in her annual Christmas message.  The only exception was Britain's great wartime leader, Elizabeth II's first prime minister Winston Churchill, who Her Majesty referred to once - in 1999, almost thirty-five years after his death.  It is possible that the Queen took an early decision not to mention the comings and goings of particular British (or other Commonwealth) prime ministers to avoid arguments, bidding wars and accusations of bias regarding what is said, or not said, about who.


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The 1975 Broadcast

Location:  Buckingham Palace

Produced by:  BBC

Theme:  Speaking from the gardens of Buckingham Palace, Elizabeth II addresses the harsh economic climate of the time, including the problem of record inflation, but reassures her audience that Christmas reminds us of Christ's example and shows that small acts of goodness can have a combined effect:  'He showed that what people are and what they do, does matter and does make all the difference'.  Whether it is kindness and sympathy or courage and self-sacrifice, the Queen says everyone has their best to offer, which matters: 'If you throw a stone into a pool, the ripples go on spreading outwards...our daily actions are like those ripples, each one makes a difference, even the smallest.'  The Queen encourages viewers to 'take heart from the Christmas message and be happy'.

Commentary:  By the mid 1970s the view that the Message was merely a televised radio broadcast had gone;  this was now a television production with television production values.  Why, exactly, the decision was taken to film outdoors for the first time remains something of a mystery;  it has little if anything to do with the subject matter of the Queen's speech, unless one takes the view that the bleakness of Her Majesty's surroundings is an allusion to the economic climate she describes.  Clearly, however, someone thought it was a good idea.  Elizabeth II stands in a bleak midwinter scene, her bottle-green outfit adding a small splash of colour amidst the shades of grey.  A few ducks swim past on the Buckingham Palace lake, oblivious to their impending brief moment of fame.  The Palace itself is visible, just about, through the December haze.  Her Majesty delivers an admirably 'chipper' performance, seemingly unaffected by the wintriness.  If the temperatures in London on that December day in 1975 matched the backdrop, one wonders whether Her Majesty was encouraged to perform the old filming trick of sucking ice cubes to combat the cold weather problem of visible, condensed breath.  It was a change, however, and the by now familiar surroundings of the Regency Room would return the following year.

Perhaps it could be said that Elizabeth II balances the bleakness of the backdrop with the warmth of her words.  Time and again over the years the Queen has returned to her deeply held view that  small, positive acts combine to make a greater whole;  as she eloquently puts it in this Broadcast, 'If enough grains of sand are dropped into one side of a pair of scales they will, in the end, tip it against a lump of lead'.  You don't have to be a hero, Elizabeth II seems to be saying, just try to do something good each day.  The Queen wants every positive contribution, however apparently small, to feel valued.

Trivia:

In addition to being the first to be filmed outdoors, this was the first Broadcast in which Elizabeth II delivered her entire speech standing up.  She would do so again on occasions in the 1980s, and between 2003 and 2012 the Queen would deliver ten consecutive Messages from an entirely standing position.


Elizabeth II's second, and (to date) only other outdoors Broadcast would be six years later, in 1981.

For the first time the Queen is without her emergency script in case of autocue failure.  By 1975 it appeared that Her Majesty had fully embraced the television age.

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The 1976 Broadcast

Location:  Buckingham Palace

Produced by:  BBC

Theme:  Recalling her visit to the United States in the year it had celebrated two hundred years since independence, Elizabeth II talks about the importance of reconciliation, which she describes as 'the product of reason, tolerance and love'.  Highlighting those who strive for reconciliation in cases of racial, religious and sectarian division, the Queen describes the efforts of such people as 'encouraging'.  Remembering that 'good spreads outwards and every little does help', Elizabeth II likens the search for reconciliation to the recovery of the earth following the famous drought which had occurred in Britain during the summer:  'who in Britain who saw the parched earth and empty reservoirs last summer would have believed that the grass would grow so strong, so green and so soon when the drought ended? When the conflict stops, peace can blossom just as quickly.'

Commentary:  In 1976 Queen Elizabeth II had turned fifty and at Christmas was about to embark on her Silver Jubilee year.  She had reigned through seven British prime ministers and several changes of government and was already seen as a fixed point of stability in a turbulent world.  It was this uncertain world which Her Majesty sought to address with her theme of reconciliation, using her highly successful tour of the United States during the year of its Bicentennial celebrations as an example of how bitter enemies can become good friends in a relatively short space of time.  When Elizabeth II states (as the camera moves to close-up for added emphasis) that the gift she would most appreciate in her Jubilee year 'is that reconciliation should be found wherever it is needed', that may sound impossibly pious and naive to some; but the following year the Queen recalled her words and indicated that she considered that it was a wish which, in many ways, had been granted.

Normal service resumed following the outdoors Broadcast of the previous year.  The Regency Room is given a cosy, 'sitting room' makeover with the Queen delivering her entire speech from a sofa  rather than from behind a desk.  This pleasing, homely look would set the standard for the next few years.  Footage from the royal tour of the United States, including the Queen meeting residents in Harlem, New York City, is played during the Broadcast.

The Queen herself makes an unusually bold concession to the styles of the era.  Wearing a bright yellow dress with over-sized collar, there is no escaping the fact that this was the 'high' 1970s.  The fashions of the decade would subsequently be ridiculed for a generation before, inevitably, coming round again.

Trivia:

If the sofa seen in this production is the same one that was used for part of the 1971 Broadcast, it had been re-upholstered in the intervening years. It was used again in 1979 in the same setting and in 2000 when it was evidently temporarily moved to the Spanish Room.  Thirty years later the same sofa (or at least an identical replacement) could be seen in the background in photographs taken in the Regency Room to mark Elizabeth II's eightieth birthday in 2006.

Full text here

The 1977 Broadcast

Location:  Buckingham Palace

Produced by:  BBC

Theme:  Elizabeth II recalls the Silver Jubilee celebrations of 1977, reflecting on the many events of the year which she and countless others had taken part in, as well as the large-scale tour of Britain and Commonwealth countries which she and the Duke of Edinburgh had undertaken during the year.  Recalling her hopes of reconciliation the previous year, Her Majesty thanks her people for their response, commenting that it had not been an 'impossible dream', and expresses her desire for reconciliation in Northern Ireland, which she had visited during her Jubilee tour.  The Queen observes of the Jubilee year that 'the great resurgence of community spirit which has marked the celebrations has shown the value of the Christian ideal of loving our neighbours. If we can keep this spirit alive, life will become better for all of us.'

Commentary:  The Silver Jubilee year of 1977 was a happy, successful and extremely busy one for Elizabeth II.  British Prime Minister James Callaghan had decided that a national celebration was needed to detract from the economic woes of the time and the result was the biggest royal event since the Queen's Coronation in 1953 and the first royal jubilee since the Silver Jubilee of King George V in 1935.  The centrepiece of the events had been a long weekend in June when the Queen had lit the first of a chain of beacons across the United Kingdom the evening before a a service of thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral on 7th June preceded by a spectacular procession through the crowd-lined streets of London where the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were driven in the Gold State Coach, the first time it had been used since the Coronation.  During the year, the Queen and Duke also embarked on an extensive tour of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, the like of which has not been seen in a single year before or since.  However, it is the images of thousands of street parties which took place up and down the United Kingdom during the Bank Holiday weekend, where millions of ordinary Britons (including this blogger, then a pre-school child!) took part in the national jamboree, which endure in the popular memory.

Elizabeth II greets crowds on Jubilee Day, 1977

In the speech, in what would become a familiar tone for her Christmas messages in jubilee and major birthday years, Elizabeth II places the emphasis on how such celebrations bring out the best in others, rather than concentrating on herself, referring to the 'community spirit' which was evident during the year.

Building on the new look to the Regency Room 'set' which was introduced the previous year, the Queen, dressed in pale blue, sits alongside a small table in a setting which would essentially remain the same for the next few years.  In a new festive touch, Her Majesty is surrounded by a number of Christmas cards; the first time that cards had been seen in vision since the earliest live television broadcasts from Sandringham.  Photography follows the tested format of slowly zooming in on the Queen as she speaks before the camera pans out again to the long shot at the close.

Trivia:  

The 'icing on the cake' for the Queen in her Silver Jubilee year was that she became a grandmother for the first time.  Princess Anne gave birth to a son, Peter Phillips, in November;  young Peter would feature in the next year's Broadcast.

In addition to the Christmas broadcast, the Queen, along with the Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and Prince Charles, took part in the major BBC documentary Royal Heritage, broadcast to coincide with the Jubilee year.  The series was an exploration of the history of the monarchy presented by Sir Huw Wheldon.  Senior members of the royal family were interviewed or did presentations concerning their particular experiences or interests.  Particularly noteworthy was a presentation by Elizabeth II about the history of the Imperial State Crown. 

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