25 December 2023 , 14:45
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Today marks King Charles second King's speech since taking the throne, with the monarch settling into the tradition, but the annual Christmas message has a long history preceding that.
The late Queen Elizabeth gave 69 of them during her reign, and the first was given in 1932 by King George V. Last year Charles gave his first Christmas speech, which was recorded from St George's Chapel, Windsor - the final resting place of his mother.
At one stage, the speech was indeed broadcast live, so it's understandable where the misunderstanding came from that this is still the case today. But in fact, it has been pre-recorded since 1960 so that it can be shown internationally across the Commonwealth at times suitable to audiences in each location.
The idea of the monarch giving an annual festive message was first raised in 1923, but King George V initially turned the BBC down. However, nearly a decade later he agreed to read a message live on the radio that was written by Rudyard Kipling - a poet and novelist who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907.
The first message was broadcast live from Sandringham - the 20,000-acre Norfolk estate where the royals traditionally spend Christmas - but it didn't become an annual fixture of the festive season until later. In 1937, his son King George VI gave his first Christmas broadcast after the abdication of his brother King Edward VIII, who never gave one because his reign was so short - less than a year.
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This first speech from King George VI - Elizabeth's father - captured the public's imagination through its depiction in the film The King's Speech - which, starring Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, and Geoffrey Rush, depicted the King's struggle to overcome his stammer with the support of his speech therapist ahead of the first live broadcast.
The Christmas speeches solidified as a tradition with the outbreak of the Second World War, according to the Royal Family's official website, they "played a large part in boosting morale and reinforcing belief in the common cause. When the war ended, the Broadcasts - with their sentiments of unity and continuity - continued as a matter of course throughout the subsequent decades of change."
Until 1960, the speeches were all given live, except for the one given in 1951, which King George VI prerecorded due to ill health. In 1957, the late Queen gave the first live Christmas message that was broadcast on television and three years later the switch to prerecorded messages took place for good.
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