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.
Full text here
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.
Full text here
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