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
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
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