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| Queen Elizabeth II in one of the Christmas broadcasts. Image from Youtube. |
Every Christmas day, the British sovereign delivers a broadcast to the Commonwealth of Nations. This is a
tradition that began in 1932 with a radio broadcast by King George V on the British
Broadcasting Corporation's Empire Service. Since then, it has evolved into an
important part of the Christmas Day celebrations for many in Britain and around
the world.
The Christmas broadcast was conceived as early as 1922 when
the "founding father" of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC),
John Reith, asked King George V if he could possibly deliver a short broadcast
on the newly created radio service. The king, thinking that the radio was better
off as a medium of entertainment, declined the idea. In 1932, the Empire
Service, the precursor of today’s World Service, was inaugurated and Reith
thought a message from the sovereign would be the best way to inaugurate the
broadcaster. With the backing of Queen Mary and Prime Minister Ramsay
MacDonald, King George V relented and his first Royal Christmas Message. A
temporary studio was set up out of two rooms at Sandringham House where the
king recorded his speech.
The transmission was an exercise of contemporary logistic
brilliance, the Royal Family’s official website explains. The microphones at Sandringham were connected
through Post Office land lines to the Control Room at Broadcasting House. From
here, connection was established to BBC transmitters in the Home Service, and
to the Empire Broadcasting Station at Daventry with its six short-wave
transmitters.
The General Post Office transmitted the broadcast to
Australia, Canada, India, Kenya and South Africa. The time chosen was 3.00pm -
the best time for reaching most of the countries in the Empire by short waves
from the transmitters in Britain. Following an hour long program, the first
Broadcast started at five past three (twenty-five minutes to four according to
the King's 'Sandringham Time') and lasted two and a half minutes.
The message is usually about the major events that occurred
within the year, with focus on the British Empire, and, later the Commonwealth
of Nations. It is the monarch’s reflection of current issues and concerns, and
on what Christmas means to the audience. It is about the sovereign's own
personal milestones and feelings on Christmas, a chronicle of international,
national and personal events that have affected sovereign. It is one of the few instances when the
sovereign speaks publicly without any advice his ministers. The sovereign’s
speech is planned months before Christmas, after the message’s theme is
decided. The actual speech is recorded a few days before Christmas.
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