At 3 p.m. on Christmas Day, the nation gathers for the first Christmas message from the King since 1951.
That year, more than seven decades ago, George VI, the late Queen’s father, delivered his last such message to the nation while recovering from a serious illness – specifically the removal of a lung.
He thought he was getting better, although there were a few people who knew his time on Earth was limited.
The 1951 message was broadcast on radio, not television, but so much of what George VI said then seems appropriate today.
At 3 p.m. on Christmas Day, the nation gathers for the first Christmas message from the King since 1951
“In bad times, what we value most is the support and sympathy of our friends,” he said. “At Christmas we feel like the old simple things matter most. They don’t change no matter how much the outside world seems to do.’
We live, as he put it, “in hard and critical times.”
This has certainly been a turbulent year. Even the joyful platinum anniversary, which peaked in June, was tinged with a touch of sadness. A momentous change was already underway. There have been many occasions when the Queen’s appearance was expected but not possible.
Then came September and a death like no other. The end of the longest reign in Britain’s history. The final conclusion of the long post-war period that shapes so many of us. And the beginning of a new and difficult time of national reflection.
Christmas Day will be the first time we hear directly from the new king since his compassionate and moving address to the nation on the night after his mother’s death. It will be important – an opportunity for him to update us on how he is doing, outline his plans for the new year and possibly say how he will approach his coronation on May 6th. More than that, it will be a chance to set your own style for the reign to come.
Not that the show will be easy. His mother’s absence will be clearly felt. We will all miss the Queen’s reassuring words that we have become so familiar with. It is, as they say, a difficult deed to follow.
In her last Christmas speech, the Queen remarked that Prince Philip, her late husband, will be absent from the family celebrations. Now we’ve lost her too. However, I am confident that the new king will take things forward gradually and in his own way.
Pictured: King Charles III during a visit to London’s Community Kitchen in Harrow to meet students and volunteers and tour the facilities
His political skills were shown at the anniversary celebrations. Standing in for his mother, he conducted Trooping the Color with perfect precision. He was the center of attention – but as soon as the Queen appeared on the balcony, he stepped back and focused on her. It was a time of transition, but one that was handled with skill and dignity on all sides.
This Christmas, the king will preside over a traditional family reunion at Sandringham, the house the queen gave him a few years ago.
Sandringham is important. Charles was there when his grandfather George VI died. He still remembers him.
The new king will have great respect for George VI’s calm demeanor. who earned the respect of the nation during a short but difficult reign.
The Queen had great respect for her father, his ways and his memory. A big element in her philosophy was that she wanted to be a good daughter to him so that when they met in the afterlife, he would acknowledge that she couldn’t have done better. George VI – and continuity – will remain in his grandson’s mind as he prepares for his coronation, the defining event of the year to come.
I hope the courtiers don’t dumb down the ceremony.
Rituals must be performed, important elements that confirm a hereditary monarch in his role as constitutional king.
The spectacle will count. It will be a televised event and Britain will once again be the showcase of the world.
It was striking how fully Britain embraced the rituals of the monarchy at the time of the Queen’s funeral – lying in state, the extraordinary queuing for those wishing to show respect. These ceremonies, occasionally dismissed as irrelevant in 21st-century Britain, instead proved to be a source of unity and, for many, a comfort.
Pictured: King Charles leaves the Together at Christmas Carol service at Westminster Abbey on December 15, 2022 in London
We hope Charles isn’t trying to change too much too quickly. I am confident that he accepts the power of the role and the tradition into which he was born.
I hope we shall see the coming coronation performed with full majesty. It can and should be a time that brings us all together in times that are once again difficult – politically and economically.
Unity was at the heart of that 1951 broadcast. “We are such a big family of nations,” said the Queen’s father. “We all have our own ideas, but we have learned that disagreement is not the same as argument. If we have anything to offer the world today, it may be the example of tolerance and understanding that runs like a thread through the large and diverse family of the British Commonwealth of Nations.’
Finally, George VI thought. to the “absent from the family circle” – a moving thought for today.
He referred primarily to the young men in the overseas combat and trade services. He still had to deal with the dark years of the war and their aftermath, but there was also a narrower resonance. Within his own family, he had to grapple with the lingering shadows of the abdication and the continued interventions of his brother and predecessor, the Duke of Windsor.
We have been reminded time and again over the last few days that the new king’s family is also broken, although the ‘home team’ is doing its best to keep it together.
With quiet dignity, Charles and the royal family have kept silent as angry arrows are hurled at them from a luxurious estate in Montecito, California, where his son Harry and Meghan have made their home.
In recent days we’ve seen a united royal family attend snowy carols at Westminster Abbey. With such displays, they set a tone for the new Carolean era, leaving the recent turmoil behind.
After years of Covid restrictions and concerns, this is a chance for families everywhere to be together and celebrate more freely – although the challenges we face today, particularly the cost of living crisis, are severe in other ways.
The queen is gone and we look to our king for reassurance. The Christmas show is a chance for a quiet message of unity and optimism. It is badly needed in a new and increasingly uncertain world.