King Charles will be addressing the public for his first Christmas broadcast. A picture of Charles, taken during the taping of his inaugural speech, was released before the show aired on Christmas Day.
The King is expected to pay tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth during his first Christmas message to the nation. Ahead of the broadcast, the palace released a sneak peek photo.
But there is one key difference that you can spot right away: the monarch is shown standing while delivering his speech. In recent years, the Queen recorded her Christmas show at a desk, but she had also been standing in previous decades.
The celebratory message was recorded on December 13 at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, a religious building that has a strong connection to the late Queen.
The monarch’s funeral service was held at the place of worship and she was buried with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, in the George VI Memorial Chapel in St George’s.
Charles spoke movingly about his “beloved mother” who reigned for 70 years on his first show, when King was shown the day after her death on September 8.
In that address he said: “We owe her the heartfelt debt that a family can owe to her mother; for their love, affection, guidance, understanding and example.”
The King’s Christmas message was recorded in the choir at St George’s Chapel, where the royal family sat during the Queen’s farewell service, and during the broadcast the choir at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, will perform the national anthem and sing a Christmas carol.
In the background is a large Christmas tree adorned with ornaments that appear to be made from sustainable materials, including paper and glass, as well as natural products like pine cones.
As Prince of Wales, the King regularly raised concerns about threats to the environment and worked to bring governments and the private and public sectors together to find solutions to the climate crisis.
The image also shows leafy decorations placed between the stalls in the choir, featuring holly, berry ivy and red skimmia.
After the King’s ceremonial address was recorded, the Christmas tree was reused by the St. George’s Chapel in the Dean’s Monastery for visitors.
The program was produced by BBC Studios Events, ahead of ITV, which had its turn to record the King’s first celebratory address as part of a rotating producer system between BBC, ITV and Sky News.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said the decision was made because the BBC had “experience of filming at St George’s Chapel this year”.