In the early summer of 1923, a remarkable event occurred.
'On this day, my people in all parts of the world
'join to celebrate their unity and to...'
For the first time ever, the voice of a British monarch
could be heard by his subjects at home and throughout the Empire.
'..has its own life to live...'
For over 60 years, each December, the Queen has prepared for her
Christmas Message to her people in Britain and the Commonwealth.
The technology may be different from that used by her grandfather,
George V, when he recorded his gramophone record here,
but the sentiments are still the same.
Every Christmas Day at three o'clock, the Queen
comes into our homes and speaks directly to her people.
I very much hope that this new medium will make my Christmas
message more personal and direct.
These are not the words of politicians,
but the Queen's own personal thoughts and reflections.
A festive tradition from Britain's longest-reigning monarch.
I hope you all have a very happy Christmas.
At the beginning of the 20th century,
it became possible to witness moving images of Britain's kings
and queens through the medium of film.
While the monarchy was happy to be filmed,
recording their voices was considered a step too far.
That was until 1923, when King George V was persuaded
to record a short message
here at Buckingham Palace for the children of the British Empire,
a process which, in those days, was by no means straightforward.
In 1923, the recording technology was
what is called acoustic recording,
so there were no microphones involved,
no electricity and the recording had to be made totally acoustic.
My first question there is - and I've got a few -
how do you make a recording without a microphone?
Well, what you do is you channel the sound down a horn
and I have one here...
I'm absolutely bamboozled by the idea that there was no microphone.
So this is instead, is it?
This is a recording horn.
Now, it would normally be fixed on a stand and the end
of the horn would be attached to a machine, a recording machine...
- Right. So you talk down that bit? - You talk down that bit...
- It looks unlikely. - Would you like me to have a go?
Yeah, I'd like you to have a go, yes.
I am Tony Locantro, speaking into a recording horn,
pretending to make an acoustic gramophone record.
KIRSTY LAUGHS
So would it have been a straightforward thing,
or was it a palaver?
How would the King have gone about that business of recording?
HE LAUGHS
You only did it once because you cut a groove into a wax master
and it had to be perfect for the whole
duration of the three or four minutes of the record.
- Quite a palaver. - It was, indeed, quite a palaver.
Do we know what was said by George V?
- We have the recording. - Right.
This is the disc and this disc, the...
- Can I take it out? - Yes, of course.
- It's got this wonderful sort of very regal royal purple. - Indeed.
It looks special and it says on this label, "To the boys
"and girls of the British Empire from His Majesty King George V
"and Her Majesty, the Queen Mary."
It was sent out in a sealed package to schools all over the British
Empire and on Empire Day, which was the 24th of May, the pupils
were assembled and the package was ceremoniously unwrapped and unsealed
and the record was then played on a traditional gramophone of the time.
'Each of our many people has his own life to live...'
I mean, it must have been hugely exciting for the children,
for the teachers, for everybody involved, to actually hear
the voice of the monarch, something that had never, up until then,
been heard before.
Absolutely. Nobody heard the voice of the monarch unless you happened
to be at some occasion where the monarch was speaking.
'..by brave and wise men and women in the past.'
This last year has been one of great celebration for many.
As well as her annual Christmas television message,
every year the Queen also makes a separate radio broadcast.
This is very good.
So I'll stop when I get to the bottom of this.
It was radio, in fact, which got the whole thing started.
RADIO TUNING
A few months before the King recorded his first gramophone record
at Buckingham Palace, a radio station started
broadcasting from a building on the Strand, about a mile away.
Its call sign was 2LO.
'2LO, Marconi House, London, calling,
'2LO, Marconi House, London, calling.'
It wasn't long before 2LO became the BBC.
WALTZ MUSIC
In those early days of the BBC there were no rules and regulations,
it was just a case of experimenting to the 30,000 listeners with
what you had and what you could do.
The person in charge of the BBC at the time was a young Scottish
engineer whose portrait hangs in the Council Chamber
at Broadcasting House.
At 6ft 6, John Reith was a giant of a man who believed in taste and
morality and would defend it with courage, arrogance and ferocity.
John Reith was also canny
and he realised the potential of his new radio, or the wireless, as it
was called, as a way for leaders to speak directly to their people.
He wrote to King George V, asking him
whether he would be interested in delivering a message
to his people, on Christmas or New Year's Day, live via the wireless.
He also added that it would help to boost radio manufacturers' sales.
Well, the King...declined.
REGAL MUSIC
George V had in fact already made a broadcast,
when he opened the 1924 Empire Exhibition at Wembley.
'You see before you a complete
'and vivid representation of all your Empire.'
Large numbers of people listened to the King on the wireless,
both at home and from loudspeakers placed in public areas.
George V's voice was clearly in demand,
much to the King's dismay.
He doesn't have confidence in himself as a speech giver
and therefore in the '20s, when some of these openings
want to be recorded by, you know, new organisations
such as the BBC, it adds to the stress of it
because not only are you saying this, but here you are,
you have a physical record of every time you stammer, every time you
mistake a word, so this is greatly concerning for the King, for a
man who, I would say if you got him to list his own personal qualities,
he would probably not list public speaking as one of his top ones.
It was Britain's Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, who finally
persuaded George V that, as the Empire was transformed
into the Commonwealth, the monarchy was pivotal in maintaining unity.
A personal speech from the King to his subjects
throughout the world would do much in holding the Empire together.
The Empire was certainly important to George V,
I don't think there was any way that you could have had a British
king or queen in that period for whom the Empire wasn't seen as part
of almost like the meat and drink of who they were and what they did.
Having a role within the United Kingdom, but also having this
global role was very much part of the fabric of the institution.
It is even said that the deathbed words of George V
were, "How is the Empire?"
On the 19th of December 1932, here at Broadcasting House,
the BBC launched its Empire Service.
It was introduced by the now knighted Sir John Reith,
who spoke with brutal honesty.
'As to programmes, don't expect too much in the early days.
'The programmes will neither be very interesting, nor very good.'
What Reith had higher hopes for was the broadcast six days later,
on Christmas Day, when the King would speak live on the radio to
his people in Britain and around the world from his home in Sandringham.
The King had been heard on the wireless making speeches
on formal occasions 13 times, but never before had a monarch been
heard to speak personally and, more importantly, from their own home.
It's worth remembering that listening to the wireless was
an entirely new pastime for British households and, in that spirit,
the BBC produced some very useful advice in its yearbook.
It says to listeners, "Listen as carefully at home as you
"do in a theatre or concert hall.
"You can't get the best out of a programme
"if your mind is wandering or if you are playing bridge or
"reading, give it your full attention.
"Try turning out the lights
"so that your eye is not caught by familiar objects in the room.
"Your imagination will be twice as vivid."
And then, my particular favourite, "If you only listen with half
"an ear, you haven't a quarter of a right to criticise."
Three o'clock in the afternoon was chosen as the best time to reach
most of the Empire countries from short-wave transmitters in Britain.
For the King this would mean broadcasting at 3.30, as all
the Sandringham clocks were set half an hour
ahead of Greenwich Mean Time,
to make the most of daylight for shooting.
GUNSHOT
You know, there really was, well, nothing grand about the room
that was chosen for the Christmas broadcast.
It was actually the office of the Master Of The Household,
but, in fact, George V was said to have, well, rather appreciated
its somewhat limited space from his time aboard ships
whilst he was serving in the Navy.
It was suggested that the Empire's poet, Rudyard Kipling, write
the speech, so relieving George V of further anxiety.
The King was delighted.
Contrary to press reports in the week before the broadcast,
a special golden microphone was not used.
In fact, the two microphones that were used came from a London cinema
and were rehoused in Australian walnut to make them more dignified.
A small printed cue card was placed in front of the microphone
along with a heavy tablecloth to dampen the sound in case
the King rustled the script through nerves.
The King did agree to do some voice tests beforehand.
He also chose a small table on which the microphones would
sit, as well as his favourite wicker armchair, but just before the
actual broadcast, he's said to have sat down a little too heavily and he
went through the seat of the chair, exclaiming, "God bless my soul."
As the time for the speech drew near,
at the control room at Broadcasting House, engineers linked Post Office
cables from Sandringham to the vast transmitters which would broadcast
the King's Message live across Britain and onwards to the Empire.
'British people all the world over are listening for the voice
'of His Majesty the King.'
At 3.35, Sandringham time, King George V took a deep breath
as an announcer introduced the very first Christmas broadcast.
'His Majesty the King.'
'Through one of the marvels of modern science,
'I am enabled this Christmas Day
'to speak to all my people throughout the Empire.
'I take it as a good omen that wireless should have reached
'its present perfection at a time
'when the Empire has been linked in closer union.'
People were mesmerised by the King's voice, which one writer
described as "hoarse" as if roughened by weather.
The King was even heard to clear his throat during the broadcast.
'..that our future...
HE CLEARS HIS THROAT
'..will lay upon us...'
The broadcast would last just two-and-a-half minutes.
'I speak now from my home
'and from my heart to you all.
'I wish a happy Christmas, God bless you.'
The King had actually been very nervous during
the live broadcast but it had all gone remarkably well.
The Times newspaper described it as the most notable
event of Christmastide.
Some listeners swore they could hear a Sandringham clock
ticking in the background, whilst the Spectator magazine,
on hearing the King clearing his throat during the broadcast,
said, "A king who reads a message into a microphone from
"a manuscript may be a king,
"but a king who coughs is a fellow human being."
The speech was received incredibly well,
and not just for Kipling's words but also for the King's delivery.
George was very slow, very gravelly voiced and paced,
he wasn't trying to be a radio host, he was just like your dad
by the fireside, talking about the events of the year and I think
it's no surprise that our present Queen nicknamed him "Grandpa England".
Duty and tradition were as important to
Grandpa England as they are to his granddaughter, our present Queen.
The 1932 broadcast was the first tentative step in connecting
the monarchy to the people,
something which today we almost take for granted.
And yet, even at the parades and the parties,
the cameras might be closer and the portraits more intimate,
but we seldom hear the Queen's personal views.
This is left to the one time in the year
when she does talk to the people in her own words.
In 1990, the producer of the Christmas broadcast was
Sir David Attenborough.
A monarch in the 21st century has to combine two things.
It has to combine being a human being,
but also being something other than a normal human being.
And why do people turn out in millions to see the Queen?
Because she isn't as other human beings and yet of course she is.
And that's the magic.
- Oh, I see what you mean. - SHE LAUGHS
- It's for... It's for the radio... - This is for the radio.
- ..version. - I see. - And a run through of the words.
Hmm-mm.
Clothes-wise, does it look all right with the background?
- Yes, it does. - I mean, jolly lucky, it'd be awful if you said no
because I'd have to go and find something else!
THEY ALL LAUGH
Yes, I mean, it's all right...
Whenever you're ready, Ma'am.
Cameraman Philip Bonham-Carter
has worked on over 30 of the Queen's Christmas messages.
Generally speaking, the Queen is absolutely terrific
and no question about it, she is always relaxed.
She would very, very seldom make any mistakes during the broadcast.
I mean, quite often we would have more than one take,
but more often it was from me than her.
'That is the threat of war in the Middle East.'
Over the years, the Queen has mastered delivering
the broadcast, something which initially didn't come easily
to her father, King George VI.
It was here, in London's Harley Street, that in 1926,
Prince Albert, Duke of York, the future King George VI,
first came to see a speech therapist in an attempt to help him control
a crippling stammer which had plagued him from a very young age.
The result of that meeting with Lionel Logue became known to
a wider audience in the 2010 Oscar-winning film,
The King's Speech.
So when did you first realise that there was this great stash
of unique papers of your grandfather's?
'A few years ago, Mark Logue stumbled across the letters,
'diaries and photographs belonging to his grandfather, Lionel Logue,
'the Australian speech therapist, who would help the future king.'
So this is my grandfather's consulting room.
And this is the very room.
This is it, this is pretty much untouched from when he was here.
So this is the room that Prince Albert, who would
go on to become George VI, would come to see your grandfather
to fix the problem that he thought was unfixable, really.
Yeah, yeah, this is right.
The King would come in and there'd be two chairs
facing each other near the fire and the King referred
to this area as the most comfortable seat in London.
Because it was a place where he felt so at home and able to be himself?
That's right.
This is your grandfather's handwriting here
and what is this we're looking at?
This is his medical appointment card
so it's titled "His Royal Highness The Duke Of York".
This obviously starts in 1926.
The first appointment he made on the back here,
"1926, October 19th" - that's the interview.
And then he details progress,
and what strikes me is how many appointments there were.
Yeah, after the interview, October 19th,
he books himself in
October 20th, and then every single day throughout October, November
and December, straight through till January 5th the following year.
I notice right at the bottom of this card, highlighted here in blue
"1937", which, of course,
would prove to be an entirely pivotal year.
The previous year, 1936,
the year of three kings, had seen the death of his father,
King George V, and the 10-month reign
of his elder brother, Edward VIII.
With Edward's abdication, George VI ascended to the throne
and, in 1937, like his father before him, the new King faced the daunting
prospect of the Christmas broadcast from him home at Sandringham.
And once again, it was Lionel Logue
that the King would turn to for help.
My grandfather was invited to Sandringham on Christmas Day
to help the King through his broadcast.
The King felt a certain comfort from having
my grandfather around, not just sort of psychological
but also the coaching and the training would
go on right up until the last minute.
And then he goes on to the point at which it is 2.55 in the afternoon
and just take me through what he says here.
"Five minutes to go.
"The King lights a cigarette and walks to and fro.
"Woods", who's the BBC engineer, "tries the red light to see that
"it's working correctly and we synchronise our watches.
"One minute to go. The King throws his cigarette into the fireplace
"and stands with his hands behind his back waiting.
"The red light flicks four times, the King steps up to the microphone,
"the red light ceases for a moment, then comes on full.
"The King gives me a little nod, takes a long breath,
"and begins in his beautifully modulated voice."
'Many of you will remember the Christmas broadcasts
'of former years
'when my father spoke
'to his people at home
'and overseas as the revered...
'..head of a great family.
'His words...
'..had brought...
'..happiness into the homes
'and into the hearts of listeners all over the world.'
He says here, "The speech lasts three minutes and 20 seconds and as
"the red light goes out, I turn to His Majesty and say, 'May I be
"'the first to congratulate you, sire,
"'on your first Christmas broadcast.'"
He says, "He shakes me by the hand
"and gives that lovely schoolboy grin of his
"and says, 'Let us go inside.'"
This is your grandfather,
a speech therapist from Australia,
at the centre of a moment of history.
That must be astonishing to think that he was there
- in the room at that moment. - No, it was incredible.
I mean, this piece of writing also describes the whole
present opening ceremony and having lunch with the Royal Family
in the most, the inner sanctum of the Royal Family,
not just sort of at a State banquet,
but with the family themselves.
There's a great bit on the last page about the two little princesses,
as he describes them, of course our Queen and her sister, Princess Margaret.
Just read me a little bit of what he says goes on between them.
"What struck me most was the simplicity of the children's
"presents and the beautiful informality of the whole procedure.
"The two little princesses and the Duchess of Kent's boy always
"joined in the fun and I played Ring A Ring o'Roses."
- He played Ring a Ring... - Yeah, yeah, he played with them
"..and a race game and disqualified the Duke Of Gloucester
- "for going outside the flag." - KIRSTY LAUGHS
He really was very relaxed, wasn't he?
And he adored the children.
"As I pass through, Queen Elizabeth..." - of course we know
as the Queen Mother, "..stops me at the microphone and, putting her hand
"on my arm said, 'Mr Logue, I do not know that Bertie and myself can ever
"'thank you enough for what you have done for him,
"'just look at him now.
"'I do not think I have ever known him so light-hearted and happy.'"
Fantastic.
King George VI was clear that his 1937 Christmas message
was to be a one-off and would not be repeated.
Indeed, there was no broadcast the following year.
AIR RAID SIRENS
But with the declaration of war in 1939, that Christmas, with
Logue at his side, the King once again took to the microphone.
It was his closing words which were to resonate with listeners,
struggling with uncertainty, just months after the outbreak of war.
'I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year,
'"Give me a light that I may tread safely
'"into the unknown."
'And he replied,
'"Go out into the darkness and put your hand
'"into the hand of God.
'"That shall be to you better than light
'"and safer than a known way."'
The lines of poetry quoted by the King that Christmas caused
a frenzy of excitement and, within hours, the press were trying
to establish the identity of the poem's author.
John Masefield, the poet laureate was consulted,
but, no, they weren't his words.
Then, on Boxing Day, at midnight,
the BBC announced that the mystery had finally been solved.
The words were those of an elderly academic who, as one paper
would later exclaim, was "a woman" and, with that, the press
descended on Crowborough in Sussex, where Miss Minnie Louise Haskins
was spending up till then a quiet Christmas with her brother.
- NEWSREEL: - 'In Christmas card weather,
'Pathe Gazette cameramen meet the authoress of the quotation
'with which the King ended his Christmas broadcast.
'Miss Haskins has been made famous by her inspired words.'
And I said to the main who stood at the gate of the year,
"Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown."
And he replied, "Go out into the darkness
"and put your hand into the hand of God."
Every Christmas that followed, from the darkest days
of the war to the first glimmers of light,
the King spoke of his unswerving faith in the survival of Britain
and the Commonwealth of nations who were fighting alongside.
But perhaps the most poignant of all King George VI's
Christmas broadcasts was the one he made
here at Buckingham Palace, after the war had ended, in December 1951.
Three months earlier, King George VI had undergone major surgery.
As Christmas approached
so too did the prospect of the King's annual Christmas message.
I'm just looking now at this letter.
The King has written it on his personal stationery
and it is coming up to Christmas.
What is astonishing is that he's not just taken the time to write
to your grandfather personally, he's written him a six-page letter
and not only that, it is a very intimate
and, indeed, poignant letter.
So it starts with, "My dear Logue, thank you so much for sending me
"the books by my birthday, which are most acceptable.
"As for myself, I've spent a wretched year, culminating
"in that very severe operation from which I seem to be making
"a remarkable recovery.
"The voice is getting stronger all the time but is husky
"and, to me, it doesn't sound, to me, my voice.
"My Christmas broadcast will probably be recorded
"before I go to Sandringham. The effort may be too great on the day
"and my voice varies so.
"I am yours, most sincerely, George R."
That's astonishing, isn't it?
'As I speak to you today,
'I would like to wish you, wherever you may be, a happy Christmas.
'I myself have every cause for deeper thankfulness,
'for not only by the grace of God and through the faithful skill,
'my doctors, surgeons and nurses, have I come through my illness,
'but I have learnt once again that it is in bad times that we value
'most highly the support and sympathy of our friends.'
What is so remarkable about the broadcast is that it was
recorded by the King phrase by phrase over
the course of several hours at Buckingham Palace.
It was then taken back to the BBC
and edited together for Christmas Day.
It was the only one of the King's 14 Christmas messages
which was not broadcast live.
SONG: Funeral March by Chopin
Six weeks later, King George VI passed away in his sleep at Sandringham,
the home from where he had broadcast his first Christmas message in 1937.
The King was just 56 years old.
King George VI was laid to rest here at Windsor,
the place from which he had secretly broadcast
many of his Christmas messages during the Second World War.
Attached to the gates of the chapel where George VI is buried,
is the poem by Minnie Haskins,
made famous by the King in his inspirational Christmas message
a few months after the outbreak of the Second World War.
But the story doesn't end there.
I wonder how many of the mourners present at the funeral
of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother,
some 50 years after the death of her husband, King George VI,
would have realised the significance of that Minnie Haskins poem,
printed without any explanation on the final page
of the order of service.
It began, "I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year,
"give me a light that I might tread safely into the unknown."
His Christian faith was as important to King George VI as it is
to the Queen, who was crowned here, at Westminster Abbey, in June 1953.
The Christmas before her coronation,
the Queen ask that people should pray for her that day.
'To pray that God may give me wisdom
'and strength to carry out the solemn promises I shall be making
'and that I may faithfully serve Him
'and you all the days of my life.'
MUSIC: National Anthem - God Save The Queen
She speaks, in her Christmas broadcast, very clearly
and very definitely often
about the importance of Christian faith.
Not just about the Christmas story, but about the guiding light
that her Christian faith gives her.
For me, the life of Jesus Christ, the Prince Of Peace, whose birth
we celebrate today,
is an inspiration and an anchor in my life.
A role model of reconciliation and forgiveness,
he stretched out his hands in love, acceptance and healing.
There are times when she's very, very clear and explicit.
During 2000 for example, she said - not quite in these
terms, of course, - but, you know, "I'm going to speak rather
"more personally and rather more clearly about my faith
"in the 2,000th anniversary of our Lord's birth."
To many of us, our beliefs are of fundamental importance.
For me, the teachings of Christ, and my own personal accountability
before God, provide a framework in which I try to lead my life.
I, like so many of you, have drawn great comfort in difficult
times from Christ's words and example.
And she's spoken about how her faith directs her life,
that it's the light for her, and I believe that's completely true,
why would you say it if it weren't?
Along with her faith,
the Commonwealth has been a recurring theme in the Christmas
broadcast, not least because the Queen is head of
an organisation representing nearly a third of the world's population.
'From the window of far away England,
'she flew in over the blue Caribbean.'
Five months after her coronation, the Queen embarked on her first
tour of the Commonwealth, accompanied by Prince Philip.
I think it's immediately apparent to the Queen,
when she ascends to the throne,
that she has a new role, so when she begins the tour,
after her coronation,
for the first time, this is a British monarch
going overseas, not as the symbol of authority and rule, but almost as
someone asking that the countries of a newly-emerging, independent
Commonwealth remain together.
And I think that's a very, very significant change in the nature
of the relationship between the Queen and the Empire
that is transforming into the new Commonwealth.
Out of the old Empire sprang the Commonwealth family of nations
we know today
and that, too, has grown and changed over the years.
In October, 51 representatives of Commonwealth governments
met in Edinburgh, very much in the spirit of a family gathering.
We enjoyed it very much.
'The Commonwealth is hugely important for the Queen
'and I think it's worth remembering that when, for example,'
in the Queen's broadcast, the Commonwealth is showcased
it's because she's their Queen too, she's not just
a Queen of the people in the British Isles, but she is also Queen
of over a dozen countries overseas and of course she now has the
role of Head of the Commonwealth, so she's integrally linked to the
Commonwealth, it's, I think, very much in the DNA of her reign.
In 1957, exactly 25 years after her grandfather had broadcast
the first Christmas Message, from here at Sandringham,
the Queen allowed cameras into the house.
It was going to be televised, and just to add to the pressure,
like the radio broadcast before, it too would be live.
The move from radio to television required a much bigger
operation than in the past
and would be broadcast simultaneously on the BBC and ITV.
It was one thing to visit the TV studios and see the cameras,
but quite another to perform in front of them
and the prospect filled the Queen with dread.
She's essentially a very shy person
so sort of having to speak to camera didn't come naturally to her,
but of course she had to do it all the time,
but the Christmas speech was her really big sort of hurdle
when that started being televised.
This would not, in fact, be the first time the Queen had made
a live TV broadcast.
That July, in Ottawa, the Queen had spoken live to the Canadian people,
some of it in French.
Que vous soyez de langue francaise ou anglais,
que vous soyez nes en ce merveilleux pays,
ou encore venus de pays etranger,
vous faites tous partie d'une meme grande famille.
Preparations for the broadcast, which would come from here,
the Long Library, had begun in March, nine months earlier.
The Queen chose to broadcast from this,
the same desk and indeed the same chair, as her father
and grandfather before her, to maintain a sense of continuity.
Not everything was the same, though.
The Sandringham clocks had, by now, been moved back half an hour,
falling in line with the time used by the rest of the country.
Much interest had been shown during the 1950s
in the young Queen's dress sense.
So there was eager anticipation as to just what
she would wear for her first televised Christmas broadcast.
In the end, the Queen chose something that she had worn
a few months earlier.
Well, this is a dress that was worn by the Queen in Ottawa
as Queen of Canada. I believe it was for an early evening reception
and it's a gold brocade dress, slightly metallic
sheen in the fabric, designed for her by Hardy Amies.
The actual style, was it a style of the time?
What do you make of it?
Yes, it was a style of the time
but with a twist, for example, the bow in the bodice
is something that Hardy Amies designed for her
and wouldn't have been worn by any of his other clients.
As sovereign she wanted clothes that obviously showed the best of
what British design could achieve, but also they had to give her
a dignity and an elegance in her role as Queen of several countries.
The temporary TV studio constructed in the Long Library
at Sandringham provided the Queen's children, Princess Anne
and Prince Charles, with a somewhat different
kind of playground from the one they were used to.
Rehearsals for the broadcast began in October,
not here but at Buckingham Palace, where the team took the desk
and even the curtains from Sandringham to simulate conditions
and put the Queen at ease.
Rehearsals continued until the 23rd of December, when it was
decided that to carry on would only add to the Queen's nerves.
But there was one person,
more than any other, who helped the Queen that Christmas.
Prince Philip has been the backbone of this speech
if you like because he's always helped the Queen,
he was far more savvy with the media and with cameras
and with broadcasting than the Queen was at the beginning of her reign.
In 1956, the Duke Of Edinburgh had even introduced the Christmas
radio broadcast, live from the Royal Yacht Britannia in the Southern
Ocean, thousands of miles away from the Queen and his family in Norfolk.
Christmas was anything but usual
the following year at Sandringham as, with Prince Philip by her side,
the Queen prepared for her first televised Christmas broadcast.
The Queen came in... and everything was set up -
the camera was there, the cameramen, everything was running,
and, as soon as she sort of saw the autocue, she froze.
BELLS CHIME
EXCITED VOICES
'Eventually Prince Philip came to the rescue'
and on the day he stood behind one of the spare cameras and
he made the Queen laugh.
And as she was about to go on air
he said something funny and she relaxed
and delivered the speech perfectly.
Happy Christmas.
25 years ago, my grandfather broadcast the first
of these Christmas messages.
Today is another landmark because television has made it
possible for many of you to see me in your homes on Christmas Day.
People really felt she was coming into their home
when they saw the speech televised.
My own family often gather round to watch television...
Back then, you had to watch it probably in the one room that
had a television and a lot of people would sit round it and stand
for the National Anthem and it was a big part of Christmas Day.
At the time, it was quite extraordinary seeing the Queen
speak, surrounded by Christmas cards and photos of her children,
rather than simply hearing her words, as had happened in the past.
But now, at least for a few minutes,
I welcome you to the peace of my own home.
That Christmas, the Queen was watched
by 16-and-a-half million people, the highest viewing figures
for any TV broadcast since the coronation, four years earlier.
And so I wish you all, young and old, wherever you may be,
all the fun and enjoyment and the peace of a very happy Christmas.
The live television broadcast was deemed a great success
although ongoing strange atmospheric conditions meant that
that afternoon some viewers found the Queen's words
interrupted by the voices of American cops talking
on police radio networks somewhere on the other side of the Atlantic.
One viewer even heard an American policeman announce,
"Joe, I'm going to grab a quick coffee."
Then the sound crackled and the Queen's voice was back again.
The success of the broadcast meant that there was no going back and
the following Christmas the Queen was again live from Sandringham.
And having seen the monarch, the public now wanted more.
Some of you have written to say that you
would like to see our children on television this afternoon.
We value your interest in them and I can assure you that we have
thought about this a great deal before deciding against it.
We would like our son and daughter to grow up
as normally as possible so that they will be able to serve you and
the Commonwealth faithfully and well when they are old enough to do so.
However, by the mid '60s, the Royals had relented and their growing
family increasingly began to make appearances in the festive message.
In October this year, I took my son and daughter
with me to the opening of Parliament at Westminster.
- Oh, I see. - It's my grandfather. - Yeah.
King George V, and this was the first time he went to the...
FA Cup Final.
And that year was the year I was born.
By 1984, the Queen and her extended family were in full
and relaxed view as they gathered here, in the Green Drawing Room
at Windsor, for the christening of Prince Harry.
Look! Zara...
Zara! Go and get Zara.
- BABY CRIES Zara! - Look!
When the children are included in the visuals of
the Christmas speech it's always incredibly popular.
I remember William, I think, and Zara sort of running round
the robes of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
There were the corgis and there was the Queen chatting.
I think she was talking about how they named puppies.
- It's called Dash. - Dash!
Dash, and you know it's a word you use when you're cross. "Dash!"
And it comes out frightfully well as a dog's name, you see.
Until the early '60s, the Christmas message was always live,
which put a considerable strain on the monarch.
Indeed, George V had complained in 1932
that it had "quite ruined" his Christmas.
Pre-recording it a few days before Christmas in different
locations, like here at Buckingham Palace, gave producers
like Sir David Attenborough the opportunity to be
just a bit more adventurous.
CAROL SINGERS: The Holly And The Ivy
Every year this Christmas party is held for the children
of the people living in the Mews at Buckingham Palace.
I thought that it was...
Just to vary from sitting at a desk,
couldn't we find an occasion on which the Queen was being
very queenly and regal and royal and yet, at the time, very human?
There was an event just before Christmas
when the Queen, by custom, holds a children's party
and that year it was being held in the Royal Stables.
And I thought, "That's great."
You know, a stable, Christmas, one thing and another.
These are some of the horses that were drawing
the carriages at the time of the wedding in the summer.
- Have you been to one of these parties before? - Yes.
Is this the first time you've been, is it?
I'll get bitten in a minute!
'Because it was a stables, there were horses in the background
'and the Queen came down and delivered her speech'
to, of course, a teleprompter, but absolutely immaculately
and perfectly and not a mistake at all, you see.
For the children, the party and the meeting with
Father Christmas are perhaps the most exciting part of the evening,
but I hope that a walk through the stables
also helps to bring the traditional Christmas story alive for them.
And I was... It was the first time I'd done it and was saying,
"Thank you so much, wonderful..."
All that.
And the cameraman plucked my sleeve and said, "No, go again."
I said, "What?"
"No, no, go again."
I couldn't think what he was talking about.
So, you know, "wonderful," and he said, "Go again!"
So I thought I'd better take notice so I said,
"I'm awfully sorry, there's just been a slight technical problem.
"Could we do it again?"
And the Queen, professional that she is, said, "Very well," and went
and did it again.
And as she went around I said to the cameraman,
"What on earth?!
"I mean, what, did you leave the lens cap on for heaven's sake?!
"What is the matter?" and he said, "Well, there was
"one of these horses that was immediately behind the Queen in the
"stables and just as she started, it got that itch on the lips that
"horses get and so it was going like this, you see."
And he said it looked as though the horse was a ventriloquist
or something, you see!
As the productions became more ambitious, so too did the locations.
In 1989, the Queen surprised an audience by delivering
her Christmas message live on stage.
I usually make my Christmas broadcast to
the Commonwealth from Windsor or Buckingham Palace.
This year, I thought I would use the presence of 2,000 children at this
occasion organised by the Save The Children Fund in the Albert Hall.
Those of you present are the immediate audience
for my broadcast, but I'm also speaking by radio
and television to people throughout the world.
Three years later, in 1992, the Queen and her Christmas message
returned once again to the peace of rural Norfolk,
after a break of over three decades.
The message had come full circle.
We did a link within the script to King George VI
and his broadcast from Sandringham,
and therefore it seemed quite nice for the Queen to walk
into the room and to look at pictures of her late father
and I think the Queen was quite pleased to be doing something
rather than just sitting.
My great grandfather,
King Edward VII, made Sandringham his country home in 1862
and it was from this house that my grandfather, King George V,
and my father, used to speak over the radio, originally to the Empire
and then to the Commonwealth, on Christmas Day, all those years ago.
It was from here that I made my first Christmas broadcast
40 years ago.
The Queen is extremely good at trying to put
those around her at ease, but nevertheless, you do realise
that you basically are asking her to do things
and you're stopping her if perhaps the recording isn't going properly.
So it is a unique situation, actually,
it's quite difficult to explain in some ways.
I was particularly nervous one year because I was wearing my best
suit and realised while kneeling in front of the Queen that the zip
of my trousers had burst open and failed, so I had to kneel
in a very strange sideways position until the end of that recording.
And then, in fact, during the lunch break,
I was sewn back into my trousers.
But the 1992 Sandringham broadcast would make
the headlines for a very different reason that year.
'The One O'Clock News from the BBC.'
Good afternoon.
Buckingham Palace has said the Sun's advance
publication of the Queen's Christmas Message was very regrettable.
Today's edition contains what it says is the full text
of the broadcast, which is normally kept secret until transmission.
However, this was not the first time the content of the broadcast
had leaked out.
Five years earlier, in 1987,
it was the BBC itself that was in the spotlight.
Quite often the Christmas broadcasts are, by their very nature,
full of generalities and pleasantries, nothing wrong
with that, but in 1987, I think a different tone was taken.
On the 8th of November, there'd been a bomb outrage
in Enniskillen in Northern Ireland at the Remembrance Sunday service
at the war memorial and 11 people had been killed.
And the country
and, I think, the world was very much moved
by the account by a man called Gordon Wilson
who'd been buried in the rubble with his daughter,
Marie, who was a nurse.
And he described how she passed away as he was holding her hand
and the Queen made reference to this and I thought
she made a very telling point about it and I found it very moving.
Mr Gordon Wilson, whose daughter, Marie, lost her life
in the horrifying explosion at Enniskillen on Remembrance Sunday,
impressed the whole world by the depth of his forgiveness.
There was a correspondents' lunch, I was asked by someone
if I'd seen the Christmas broadcast. I said I had, the speech was
embargoed, I didn't think there was any harm in talking about it.
After the lunch, a colleague rang me up and said that
one of the people who'd been at the lunch had gone back to
his office and was writing up what I said as a front page story for his
tabloid newspaper and all the other journalists were following suit.
All of us will echo their prayer that out of the personal
tragedies of Enniskillen may come
a reconciliation between the communities.
Tabloid newspapers can make a front page headline out of one word.
It was to my profound and everlasting regret that they did.
I had no hesitation,
when I found out what was going to happen, to offer my resignation.
The tabloid press imagined Michael Cole's fate in an earlier time.
But the Palace said nothing and Cole survived,
albeit in a different role.
We all felt the shock and sorrow of Diana's death.
Thousands upon thousands of you expressed your grief most
poignantly in the wonderful flowers and messages left in tribute to her.
Thank you so much, thanks.
That was a great comfort to all those close to her.
At times, in her broadcast, the Queen has confronted events
of a deeply personal nature for her and her family.
None more so than the tragic death of Princess Diana in 1997,
when the Queen also acknowledged
the affect it had on the nation as well as those further afield.
MUSIC: Song Of Athene by John Tavener
Over the decades, the Christmas broadcast has
acted as a chronicle of personal, national and global events
which have affected the Queen as well as her audience.
At Christmas, we feel very fortunate to have our family around us.
The Queen continues to share the intimate moments of her own family
life, along with those of the bigger family of the Commonwealth, for
which she remains the figurehead, as well as the Armed Forces.
We are forever grateful to all those who put themselves
at risk to keep us safe.
The Royal Christmas Message has been a traditional
part of the festive season stretching back over 80 years.
Christmas is about tradition - the trees, the cards,
everything else, and this is part of it.
Today is another landmark because television has made it possible...
People still like the idea that the Queen
comes on television at three o'clock and it's unchanging,
it's above politics, it's part of Christmas.
Still the most watched programme on Christmas Day,
in 3D, on television, and online,
it's come a long way from the radio where it first started.
'I wish a happy Christmas, God bless you.'
'I wish you, from my heart, a happy Christmas.
A very happy Christmas to you all.