The countdown to Christmas is under way. The bells are jingling, the tinsel is tinseling and it's time to get festive. Yes, there will be sparkle and season's greetings and plenty of royal Christmas trees here over the coming weeks but there's also going to be a December special. I called this blog 'Queens of England' because I am totally fascinated by the amazing women who have held that role. So in the run up to Christmas, every day will focus on a festive season that was special or stand out for a Queen of England. And first of all, it's the present Queen and the day she made history by broadcasting to the nation on TV.
We're so used to the Queen's Christmas Speech that it's easy to forget what a new innovation it really is. The annual festive address had only been going for 25 years when Elizabeth II appeared on TV screens around the country to speak to the nation. In this major moment of royal history, she acknowledged that she might be a remote figure to some but that she hoped her decision to talk to millions through TV might make her message more ''direct''. It's done more than that.
The Queen's Speech is now the major moment of the Christmas TV schedules and, in an age where channels spring up overnight, it's increasingly taking top billing in the ratings as a constant across all outlets. That constancy was what the Queen aimed for when she decided to speak on TV as well as radio in the early years of her reign. That first televised Christmas speech took place on December 25th 1957, broadcast from Sandringham. The Queen, then 31 years old, spoke of her family, her hopes and her desire to serve. Her message remains the same today.
Elizabeth II has been alive for every single King or Queen's Christmas Day speech in history. Aged six, she heard her grandfather, King George V, begin the tradition and watched first hand as her father, George VI, took on the responsibility in his own reign. And with that sure PR touch that has stood the Windsors in such good stead throughout their rule, she steered this fascinating creation, the Christmas Day message, into a new era. The Christmas of 1957 was a major moment for this Queen, a turning point in a reign that would make more history than most.
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