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.

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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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