The Christmas message, watched by millions of people in Britain and across the Commonwealth, has been an integral part of Christmas Day for nearly a century and offers insight into the Royal Family’s views on the state of the world. For Charles, it marks the end of a tumultuous year, during which his mother celebrated her platinum jubilee and died aged 96and in which he ascended the throne.
“Christmas is a particularly poignant time for all of us who have lost loved ones,” Charles said. “We feel their absence at every familiar turn of the season and remember them in every cherished tradition.”
Everything about the five-minute pre-recorded address makes sense, and royal watchers are keeping a close eye on what is said – or not said – by the monarch.
The setting for Charles’ first visit to the Christmas message was designed to display the continuity from Queen to Heiress, staged in St Peter’s Church. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, where her mother was buried just months ago, alongside her father Prince Philip.
In the seven decades that Queen Elizabeth II has aired the shows, they have often taken on a religious tone.
Charles accepted the responsibilities conferred by his religious titles – the monarch is the head of the Church of England – without reservation, and he attended a Christmas Day service at Sandringham on Sunday. But there are signs Charles intends to bring a somewhat different take on religion and spirituality to the role. In his post, he said: “Although Christmas is, of course, a Christian holiday, the power of light overcoming darkness is celebrated across the boundaries of faith and belief.”
The first Royal Christmas message was broadcast on the radio in 1932 by King George V. Elizabeth took the tradition to television – and delivered one every year of her reign except 1969, when she apparently decided that the public had had enough of the royal family after the BBC aired a two-hour documentary which they found indulgent and intrusive.
Christmas broadcasts have long served as a sort of annual summary of royal family events, including births, heirs, birthdays, jubilees and deaths. Charles’ message in 2022 – with his tribute to his mother – was in line with tradition.
But while Charles mentioned the public engagements of Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, he made no reference to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
The renegade couple – who resigned as ‘senior working royals’ in 2020 and moved to California – had caused a stir in recent weeks with a Netflix documentary series which claimed palace officials passed on negative stories about Meghan to the media. Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace said they would have no comment, and the King’s Christmas message on Sunday suggested they had no intention of changing course.
In her Christmas message last year, the Queen jumped up on controversies that plagued the family at the time, including allegations that Prince Andrew engaged in sexual abuse, which he denies.
Known for their brevity, the Christmas messages also tend to tackle big societal issues and have covered topics such as the Great Depression, the rise of Nazism, the threat of nuclear annihilation in the 1950s and the fall of the Wall. from Berlin. It is one of the few public remarks that British monarchs typically write without the advice of the government.
In his speech on Sunday, Charles spoke about the conflicts, famines and natural disasters that have struck this year, but he made no direct reference to climate action – an issue that occupied him before he took over. take the throne. As a ruler, he faces more expectations than before to refrain from sharing his personal views.
But the Windsor Castle backdrop offered a message – to be decoded – of sustainability and Charles’s love for nature, gardening, plants and the circle of life.
In a note to reporters, the palace said the Christmas tree was “decorated with ornaments made from sustainable materials, including paper and glass, as well as natural products such as pine cones.”
The floral arrangements used “English foliage – holly, berry ivy and red skimmia”, and the tree had to be recycled to be seen by holidaymakers in Windsor.
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