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There were a great many column inches spent speculating over how the King's first Christmas Broadcast would look, what he would say, and how his address would compare with the many Christmas messages delivered by the late Queen. Even more column inches were spent commenting on the programme after it was broadcast. Similarly, the television airwaves were filled with 'experts' fascinated by the prospect of the first television Christmas Message to be delivered by a male monarch.
It is impossible to go into all of these; suffice to say that there were those who thought His Majesty would continue with a conventional style, while others thought he would try something groundbreaking and new, to signal a generational break from his mother.
It was quite fun to see so many commentators attempt to argue that the visual and production sides of the broadcast were somehow revolutionary. On Boxing Day morning, I watched an interviewee say that it was noteworthy that King Charles had delivered his message from 'a Church' rather than a a grand state room and that this may signal His Majesty's intention to do 'on location' Broadcasts. Actually, Queen Elizabeth had wrapped up her 1999 speech from almost the same spot and recorded a number of 'on location' Broadcasts (particularly in the first decade of the Millennium), including from several churches and chapels. Some seemed amazed that the King delivered his speech standing up. True, he was, but Queen Elizabeth spoke from a standing position for the first time in 1975, did so on several occasions during the 1980s and later for ten consecutive Christmases from 2003 to 2012 (and who could forget the "stand up, sit down, keep moving" gimmickry that producers subjected Her Majesty to in the 2000 and 2001 Broadcasts?)! It was only in the last decade of her life, by which time she was in her late eighties, that Elizabeth II chose to speak from the more comfortable seated position of earlier years. Even more trivial, was the King's choice of blue suit and cheerful tie really so significant?
There had also been speculation that the Christmas Broadcasts of King Charles III would be more secular, interfaith-orientated and less Christian in tone than his mother's. On the contrary, the King's first Message is robustly Christian, talking much about his own faith while also referencing other religions as Elizabeth II had done for many years.
Essentially, what we have in the 2022 Broadcast is a largely traditional product, which has enough 'wriggle room' to allow something less conventional as King Charles' Christmas Broadcasts progress. Windsor is a 'safe' venue - a royal residence - yet the setting of St. George's Chapel had only been used once before and allows scope for future innovative developments: this coming Christmas may see the King speak from one of the familiar State Rooms of Buckingham Palace; equally, His Majesty could be on location somewhere in the North of England (or even further afield). St. George's Chapel made sense for the 2022 Message: it is consistent with the tradition of the Broadcasts and is also the place where Queen Elizabeth had so recently been laid to rest with her husband Prince Philip. The choice of the carol O Little Town Of Bethlehem is also significant, because it was the backdrop for the end of Queen Elizabeth's final Message in 2021 - the first time that the same carol has been used in 'back-to-back' Broadcasts: here is a clear signal of continuity. My own instinct is that the production will proceed cautiously, at least for the first few years.
If we want to look for more tangible differences between the Christmas Broadcasts of Queen Elizabeth II and the first annual Message of King Charles III, we can study their respective styles of speech and use of language. Queen Elizabeth was somewhat averse to the use of superlatives; King Charles is not. It is difficult to imagine , for example, Elizabeth II using phrases such as 'I cannot thank you enough' and 'with all my heart' as His Majesty did in 2022. However, given the circumstances, it was an understandably emotional Broadcast.
As December comes around once more, there is not long to wait to see whether the 2023 Broadcast will be produced in a similar vein to the 2022 address.
Full text of the Message here.
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