I would encourage you to watch The Christmas Broadcast, 1957, by the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II, as well as this year's broadcast. To my fellow Americans, watching these videos will put you in a very rare minority of U.S. citizens who even know that such a speech exists as one of the hallmarks of the British celebration of Christmas. When we moved to Wales, it was embarrassing to discover how much our new friends knew about America and how little we knew about Britain. We're still recovering from our inherited ethnocentricity and it's been a delightful journey again, this fourth Christmas in Wales.Later this afternoon—or morning for my American friends: 9 am Eastern/8 am Central—you can watch this year's broadcast from The Royal Channel on YouTube. This year's speech, brought to you by the same queen who delivered the 1957 broadcast, now in her 80th year: the oldest reigning monarch in the history of the British Empire. Here's The Christmas Broadcast, 2007:
Here are a few interesting facts about Queen Elizabeth II:
- The Queen was born at 17 Bruton St, London W1 on 21 April 1926, was christened on 29 May 1926 in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace, and was confirmed on 28 March 1942 in the private chapel at Windsor Castle.
- Elizabeth is married to Philip Mountbatten, now known as The Royal Highness The Prince Philip, or The Duke of Edinburgh. Together they have four children and seven grandchildren.
- She is the fortieth monarch since William the Conqueror obtained the crown of England.
- She took the throne in 1952.
- The Queen has opened Parliament every year except 1959 and 1963, during her pregnancies with two of her sons, Andrew and Edward.
- Tony Blair was the first prime minister to be born during her reign.
- The Queen is head of state of the United Kingdom and fifteen other Commonwealth realms.
- Her Majesty has given audiences to eleven prime ministers, beginning with Winston Churchill in 1952.
- She has conducted 256 official overseas visits to 129 different countries.
- Everyone citizen who reaches the age of 100 years receives a personal telegram from Her Majesty. Over 100,000 so far.
- Queen Elizabeth is a keen photographer and she sent her first email in 1976 from an Army base. She also loves horses.
Years ago, we had a Cockney-speaking war-bride friend who invited us to Christmas dinner and we watched the queen. We celebrated boxing day the day after. This year my Mexican friends are making pozole.
Are you listening to “A Child’s Christmas in Wales?” That was a family tradition my parents started.
Merry Christmas.
Bill, I hope you are doing well. I just “discovered” your thin-edge.org this morning. I was fascinated at the prospect of listening to the Queen’s Christmas address. But, alas, I got the message that the video was no longer available. Is it at another venue?
Bill: Sorry about the link malfunction. Evidently the Royal Channel on YouTube decided to suspend all embedded video links on the 1957 speech and they dropped the 2007 speech completely from its list of videos (strange, I think). However, I found another link that works for this year’s Queen’s Speech. Hope you enjoy it!
Thanks for dropping in!