The 1964 Broadcast

Location:  Buckingham Palace

Produced by:  BBC

Theme:

Elizabeth II discusses the Commonwealth, its problems and its aspirations.  The Queen reflects on her meetings with Commonwealth prime ministers and argues that 'the thread which runs through our Commonwealth is love of freedom'; a freedom which has its framework in inherited traditions and institutions and is maintained by 'a thousand invisible forces, self-discipline, the Common Law, the right of citizens to assemble, and to speak and argue.'  The Queen ends with an impassioned call to the young people of the Commonwealth, in whom the future of the world rests: 'You have brains and courage, imagination and humanity; direct them to the things that have to be achieved in this century, if mankind is to live together in happiness and prosperity.'

Commentary:

The return to a televised broadcast after the break the previous year meant a dilemma for producers;  there was the alarming, not to say embarrassing problem of the drop in ratings for the 1962 Broadcast to contend with.  Part of the problem was obvious;  the loss of spontaneity which came with pre-recording.  It wasn't that Elizabeth II's subjects didn't love their Queen, but there was perhaps a public perception that, if Her Majesty's speech had already been said and 'canned', then if she had said anything particularly of note it would already have been known, or at least the main points could be caught up with on news bulletins.

Then there was the problem of the location.  The grand state rooms of Buckingham Palace may look impressive 'in the flesh', but they certainly didn't lend themselves well to an age of monochrome television.  In fact, they looked quite dark and imposing;  this was particularly evident in the Broadcasts of 1960 and 1961.  It was a stark contrast from the cosy intimacy of Sandringham.  In her first televised Christmas message in 1957, Her Majesty had said that it was 'inevitable that I should seem a rather remote figure to many of you'.  The danger now was, with her notoriously camera-conscious style an added complication, Elizabeth II was looking more 'remote' than ever:  perilously close, perhaps, to coming across like an 'ice queen' speaking from her draughty Palace.

A solution had to be found to try to make the Queen appear more relaxed and accessible to her people.  Disappointing it  may have been to some at the BBC, but there was no question of returning to a 'live' broadcast.  Also, if the Queen could ever be persuaded to speak from the comfort of her own private sitting room, it certainly wasn't in 1964.  A compromise was needed and the Bow Room 'set' was born.

Ironically, the Bow Room is one of the most public rooms in Buckingham Palace; certainly it was so in the days before the state rooms of the Palace were opened to paying visitors. During the summer months, thousands of guests invited to the royal garden parties pass through its huge doors to reach the Terrace and it is anything but a quiet, cosy sitting room.  The room is, however, an ideal location for a television or film 'set' because of its size.  It allows for a camera crew and technicians, as well as plenty of space to create a suitable 'arrangement'.

The whole effect may be entirely contrived, but it works.  The sofas in the background, as the Queen speaks from alongside a small table, allow for a homely look which had been missing since the Sandringham broadcasts.  This is balanced by the impressive, gold-edged doors in the background;  a reminder that this is the Queen speaking from her Palace. Also, from now Elizabeth II would be dressed in 'daywear' - smart, unfussy, comfortable;  the formal dresses and evening gowns of earlier productions were gone.  The production team were evidently pleased by the changes because the Bow Room 'set' would remain for the next five years, although with a few modifications (especially as the age of colour arrived in 1967).

Notes:

Of particular interest in this Broadcast is the elegant nature of the Queen's prose, which verges at times on the poetic.  A case in point is Her Majesty's dreamy opening image:  'As I begin my Christmas Broadcast to you, the people of Great Britain and of the other Commonwealth countries, my mind travels far away, and for one moment I seem to be with you in many countries, which are now almost as familiar as my own native land'.  Later she adds reflectively (with perhaps a little help from her sailor husband!), 'all of us who have been blessed with young families know from long experience that when one's house is at its noisiest, there is often less cause for anxiety. The creaking of a ship in a heavy sea is music in the ears of the captain on the bridge.'

In her Message, Elizabeth II does not refer explicitly to the birth of Prince Edward during 1964, as she had done when Prince Andrew was born in 1960.  Prince Edward would receive more attention in the following Broadcast.

Full text here

The 1965 Broadcast

Location:  Buckingham Palace

Produced by:  BBC

Theme:

The Queen looks at the family through the lens of Christmas which she describes as 'the great family festival', tracing Christmas back to the Holy Family, who had endured hardship on the way to Bethlehem.  Her Majesty tells listeners that it should be remembered that: 'in spite of all the scientific advances and great improvements in our material welfare, the family remains as the focal point of our existence.'  Elizabeth II also looks at the wider human family and recalls that Christmas is the time of 'peace on earth and goodwill towards men' - aspirations which should not be forgotten or given up on in a troubled world.

Commentary:

The Queen takes the festival of Christmas as the framework around which she builds her speech.  Perhaps surprisingly, at this stage in her reign Her Majesty did not always refer explicitly to Christmas in her annual broadcasts, except to convey her good wishes to her subjects at the end.  Many of  Elizabeth II's Messages of the 1950s and 1960s give only a passing reference to the festival; though in the post-Millennium era we are far more used to the Queen talking more overtly about the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.

For the first time, the same 'look' is adopted for consecutive Broadcasts, as the artificial Bow Room sitting room 'set' returns; the production team were presumably confident that they had found the appropriate balance of comfort and grandeur that was required.  The main difference is that the Bow Room curtains are different from the previous year and are opened, revealing that the programme was recorded in the late afternoon or evening.

At the start of the production, mighty Big Ben solemnly strikes 3 o' clock, while Buckingham Palace is shown  in broad daylight on a summer's day;  the camera then cuts to the Queen inside the Bow Room, where it is clearly dark outside!  Moments of drama like this would have a purpose if the Broadcast was live; but since it clearly isn't, such sloppy continuity only serves to emphasise the loss of spontaneity in this age of pre-recording.

At the end of the production, Elizabeth II's theme of 'family' is underscored by the playing of specially-shot footage of her own young family, now complete following the birth of Prince Edward in 1964, accompanied by a particularly frenzied choral version of God Save the Queen.  This sequence is the highlight of the Broadcast, showing the Queen, her husband and children walking through the gardens of Frogmore House at daffodil time, with baby Prince Edward in his pram being the centre of attention.  The whole family make a fuss of little Edward, with the exception of five-year-old Prince Andrew, who plays merrily in the grass.  The closing shots are of a serene and contented looking Elizabeth II with her youngest child, who looks tired and grumpy (as every parent knows, babies do not smile to order!).

The closing sequence demonstrates the opportunities of pre-recording as opposed to the obvious down-sides.  In the live 1958 message, Elizabeth II had explained the reasons why she and the Duke of Edinburgh had declined requests that their two older children appear in the Broadcast.  Now editorial control was possible and the Queen and her husband relented. Increasingly, in subsequent years the annual Broadcast would be an opportunity to show exclusive footage of the Queen and her family in informal situations.

Notes:

Frogmore House is situated near to Windsor Castle in Berkshire.  Once a favourite country retreat of George III's consort Queen Charlotte, it is not currently used as a royal residence, though the present royal family still use it for entertaining.  It is perhaps best known for the ornate mausoleum in the grounds where Queen Victoria and her consort Prince Albert are buried.  The Royal Burial Ground, where less senior members of the family are interred, is also situated here.

Full text here

The 1966 Broadcast

Location:  Buckingham Palace

Produced by:  BBC

Theme:

Elizabeth II discusses the value of women and the increasingly important role women are playing in society.  Her Majesty reflects on some of the important social changes of the preceding decades, including women getting the vote and the influence that the 'gentleness' of women has had in humanitarian changes: 'The struggles against inhuman prejudice, against squalor, ignorance, and disease, have always owed a great deal to the determination and tenacity of women', she says.  While noting that women are 'beginning to play their full part in public life', the Queen also praises 'the devotion of nuns and nurses', 'the care of mothers and wives' and 'the service of teachers'.

The Queen ends by praising those who are trying to build a happier and more peaceful world.

Commentary:

On the home front it may have been the year when people celebrated the triumph of eleven Englishmen, but as the 'women's lib' movement spread through the western world, Elizabeth II chose to highlight the importance of women.  This isn't a necessarily 'feminist' speech as we may understand it today -  Her Majesty speaks of the 'gentleness' of women, championing a traditionally feminine quality, and is happy to praise nuns, wives and mothers in addition to acknowledging the increasing numbers of women active in public life - but it is a nod in the direction of women's rights;  the Queen is saying that all women, whatever their role or station in life, have a value.

Mention the year 1966 to most English people and they will automatically think of winning the World Cup.  Elizabeth II had attended the Wembley final and presented the Jules Rimet trophy to England captain Bobby Moore, so it may seem extraordinary to many that the Queen of England doesn't mention the achievement at all in her annual Message.  Perhaps this shouldn't seem all that strange to us;  Elizabeth II is, after all, Queen not only of England but of many other countries as well.  As a woman who is resident in Scotland for ten weeks of the year, Her Majesty may be acutely aware that not all parts of the United Kingdom appreciate being reminded of the sporting successes of the other component parts!  Also, in the Commonwealth beyond, the success of  England's footballers was unlikely to have much resonance.  When Elizabeth II talks about the importance of sport in her speeches, she likes to do so in a way which encourages unity rather than division;  so it was that England's greatest footballing achievement went unmentioned.

It is well known that Elizabeth II has scarcely changed her hairstlye since her Coronation in 1953.  However, at this point she seems to have entered the spirit of the 'swinging Sixties' to a limited extent and appears to be sporting quite an impressive bouffant;  in fact, there is almost a mini 'beehive' going on here!  The Queen reached forty in 1966 and her 'look' is subtly different from the previous year.

The arrangement of the Bow Room looks essentially the same as the previous two years although a sturdier desk has been brought in to replace the smaller table used in 1965.  The basic arrangement would remain when the Broadcast moved into colour the following year.

Notes:

Trying to get Elizabeth II to appear more relaxed on camera was still an issue.  In this year, Philip Gilbert, working on the second of three 1960s Broadcasts as an assistant producer, encouraged the Queen to smile: 'I put my face next to the camera and smiled to see what would happen. Her natural reaction was to smile back. But you can only do that once before someone knows what is coming.'  Gilbert would go on to produce the Broadcast from 1991 to 1996.

Full text here

The 1967 Broadcast

Location:  Buckingham Palace

Produced by:  BBC

Theme:

In the year of the centenary of its Confederacy, Elizabeth II discusses Canada at length and praises its achievements, recalling her five-week tour with the Duke of Edinburgh earlier in the year.  The Queen also recalls her visit to another Commonwealth member, Malta;  a colony when she first stayed there in the early years of her marriage during the Duke of Edinburgh's naval career, but by this time self-governing.

The Queen went on to praise Sir Francis Chichester, who she had knighted in 1967 after he had become the first person to sail single-handedly around the world via the clipper route in his ketch Gipsy Moth IV, achieving the fastest circumnavigation.  Also, in a year of the Commonwealth Games, Her Majesty praises the athletes of the Commonwealth.

Commentary:

Only a lucky minority would have noticed the difference on Christmas Day 1967.  Britain had become the first European country to regularly provide colour programming earlier in the year (the BBC initially producing four hours per week), while the technology had not yet reached most parts of the Commonwealth.  Even in the UK, few people would have possessed a colour TV;  the vast majority of viewers would have had to make do with the usual black and white (even by March 1969, well over a year later, there were only 100,000 colour television sets in use in the United Kingdom).  Nevertheless, ten years on from the first live, monochrome televised Christmas message, the Broadcast began what would become a tradition of being at the forefront of improving technology.

Those of Elizabeth II's subjects who were fortunate enough to have colour television at Christmas 1967 were in for a dazzling experience. The Queen shimmered gloriously in a gold dress, while the sumptuous, gold-edged walls of the Bow Room were visible in colour for the first time.  Colour co-ordinating was now of vital importance and Elizabeth II blends in seamlessly with the pale blue drapes and pink sofas.  The basic Bow Room 'set' was actually much the same as it had been for the previous few years, but those who watched in colour could not have failed to notice the single most dramatic development in the history of the Christmas Broadcast.  Adding to the spectacular colour-'fest' was interspersed footage from the Westminster State Opening of Parliament; the first to be attended by Prince Charles and Princess Anne.

Perhaps not wishing to make the large majority of viewers feel left out, the Queen herself makes only a characteristically vague reference to the technological revolution taking place in a speech otherwise dominated, as so often, by Commonwealth matters: "Modern communications make it possible for me to talk to you in your homes and to wish you a merry Christmas and a very happy New Year. These techniques of radio and television are modern, but the Christmas message is timeless.  You may have heard it very often but in the end, no matter what scientific progress we make, the message will count for nothing unless we can achieve real peace and encourage genuine goodwill between individual people and the nations of the world."  It is, perhaps, one of Elizabeth II's skills as a natural diplomat that those who know what she is talking about know what she is talking about, while to everyone else her words make perfect sense in other ways!  As it happened, the Queen had first inspected experimental colour television at the BBC way back in 1953, so was fully aware that it was taking a long time to catch on.

Notes:

The preparations for this first colour Broadcast were painstakingly meticulous.  The BBC created a replica 'set' at Television Centre and former BBC secretary Mrs Binnie Marcus was chosen to stand in for the Queen because she had similar facial features and colouring, enabling technicians to experiment with different lighting and make-up to achieve the best results.


Trivia:

The knighting of Sir Francis Chichester was a flamboyant affair, stage-managed almost to the point of being a publicity stunt.  Instead of announcing Chichester's knighthood through one of the usual honours lists and inviting him to an investiture at Buckingham Palace or Windsor, the Queen was persuaded to travel to Greenwich, meeting Chichester upon his return to England after his solo circumnavigation and dubbing him on the spot, using the same sword Queen Elizabeth I had used to knight Sir Francis Drake!

Full text here