The King's first Christmas Broadcast: Were ITV 'snubbed'?

 

The King delivering his first television broadcast as monarch;  9th September, 2022.

In recent days it has been reported that, rather than being produced by ITV as planned, the first Christmas Broadcast of the reign of King Charles III has actually been produced by the BBC (the programme was evidently recorded on Tuesday 13th December).  If true, this would be quite surprising.

The existing two-year rotational system was first devised in the mid-1990s, alternating between the BBC and ITV, later incorporating Sky News from 2011 onwards.  The purpose was officially to add 'fresh blood' to the Broadcasts, but was in no small measure motivated by a desire to punish the BBC over the notorious Panorama interview between Martin Bashir and Diana, Princess of Wales (which was itself motivated by an intention to embarrass the then Prince of Wales), which the Palace considered it had been treated discourteously over.

ITN had produced what turned out to be Queen Elizabeth II's final Christmas Message in 2021.  Planning for the 2022 Broadcast would presumably have been well underway by the time of the Queen's death in September, since each producing network considers its back-to-back programmes as a two-year project.  The BBC, which had been responsible for the 2019 and 2020 Broadcasts, had not been expected to resume production until 2025.  I can see no obvious reason why the Palace should wish to 'punish' ITV:  the network has generally 'kept its nose clean' in its associations with the Royal family and I have written many times over the years in my blog posts that the ITN Christmas Broadcasts have been as good as those produced by the BBC - and sometimes better.

Perhaps the most plausible possible explanation is that the existing rota agreement was always intended to expire at the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, with production reverting to the BBC until new arrangements are made for the reign of King Charles.  However, it is odd that there had been no comment from Buckingham Palace, ITV or the BBC to clarify the situation.

Queen Elizabeth II's ITN-produced final Christmas Broadcast; 2021.