The Queen’s Christmas Message is a broadcast by Her Majesty to the nation – and the Commonwealth – at Christmastime.

The tradition began in 1932 with a Christmas radio broadcast by King George V. The queen’s grandfather was initially hesitant about using this new technology, but Sir John Reith, a founder of the BBC, reassured the king that it was reliable. Reith wanted the speech to inaugurate what was then “Empire Service”, now known as the BBC World Service.

King George V delivered the speech – written by poet Rudyard Kipling – from a small office at Sandringham, the Royal Family’s Norfolk estate. The King acknowledged the unity that this technology brought to the Empire: “I speak now from my home and from my heart to you all; to men and women so cut off by the snows, the desert, or the sea, that only voices out of the air can reach them.”

George’s eldest son, who became King Edward VIII, never delivered a Christmas speech. He abdicated in December 1936, just weeks before his first Christmas on the Throne.

George’s second son, who became King George VI, continued the tradition of royal Christmas broadcasts. The new king, affectionately known to his family as ‘Bertie’, made his first broadcast in December 1937. He thanked the public for their support during the first year of his reign.

It had been a tumultuous year. The extremely shy, quiet Bertie never thought that he would be king. Yet there he was, picking up where his elder brother left off as King-Emperor over a vast empire.

Bertie was fearful of having to deliver speeches, his stuttering often getting the better of him. Happily, with a lot of training over the years, the king became a calmer, more competent speaker whose stutter was greatly minimized.

The king gained much more confidence, which would be beneficial throughout the war years. His annual message of hope would be particularly poignant in the early months of the Second World War in 1939. It would be George’s most famous speech, made memorable by a poem which came at the end of the broadcast:

I feel that we may all find a message of encouragement in the lines which, in my closing words, I would like to say to you:

I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year,

“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”

And he replied, “Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way.”

King George V had noted in the first Christmas message that the technology of radio was a powerful unifying force. It was a sentiment that would be carried into the reign of his granddaughter, Elizabeth II, who would embrace new mediums of communication via television and, eventually, the internet.

The Queen sat at the same desk and chair as her father and grandfather had used. People were awed by their lovely queen, and all across the globe they gathered around their televisions, as many still do today, and watched her speak to them.

Her hair is white now, and the lines of a lifetime of expression have gently creased her face, but Her Majesty’s message is still the same – peace and joy to all. Though not everyone is a Christian, Her Majesty extends the gentle kindness of her faith to all of her subjects equally.

Thank you to all for a wonderful year. See you in 2010!

Merry Christmas and warm wishes to all. I can’t believe 2010 is almost upon us already!

This season, please take a moment to donate in memory of Cheekers the cockatiel. As you may remember, Cheekers passed away quite unexpectedly this past summer. In her memory, I humbly ask for a donation that will go to my local animal shelter, c/o A Royal Rep Reader (note: the PayPal page says that the donation is for birds, but for Christmas it will be for any animal).

Or, if you prefer, you can simply go to your own local animal shelter and donate. Lots of families are having major difficulties in this economic slump, and unfortunately many animals get forgotten in the hubbub or need to be given up. Lend a helping hand if possible and give little guys the love they need this year.

Thank you!

Mandy

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Nothing screams unnecessary like a photo of a princess being groped.

The Sun newspaper trailed Princess Eugenie of York while she was on her gap year holiday in Thailand. She was wearing a bikini while out on the beaches of Phuket, and the photographers went crazy snapping photo after photo. The result was a Sun headline entitled “They’re Euge!” over a photo of the Queen’s granddaughter having her breasts squeezed by a companion.

It never fails to amaze me how much the media intrudes into private royal life. Yes, being royal means you are a public figure, but sometimes people need some breathing room. A person can’t be “on” at all hours of the day and don’t want a photographer breathing down their necks when taking a rest.

As a feminine version of Robin Hood

Not only do the media show disrespect to royal privacy, but they’re crude about it, too. Are we to blame for the intrusion because of our need for royal news and scandal, or is it the media’s responsibility to walk a reasonable middle ground?

I recently obtained a copy of Kitty Kelley’s book “The Royals” on audio cassette. I’m currently listening to it in the car as I drive, and though some may think me a bit mad to listen to Kelley’s fulmination, I find many things insightful.

Kelley discusses a time when biographer Anthony Holden was writing a book about Prince Charles’ earliest years. Holden’s biography of the prince stated that Princess Elizabeth decided to breast-feed her new baby son rather than let a wet nurse do it. The Prince’s press secretary (at the time of the writing) was aghast when he read this in the manuscript and called Holden at once to admonish him.

“The sentence about breast-feeding must be deleted. Absolutely and at once.” When Holden asked why, the press secretary adamantly stated that “One never mentions the royal breasts,” and that “[...] the royal breasts must never be exposed.”

Both Anthony Holden and Kitty Kelley chuckled about the man being ‘prudish’. So what do the two authors make of The Sun newspaper trailing Princess Eugenie while she frolics in a bikini? Exposing the royal breasts, indeed.

So the press secretary was probably a little too restricted, but people like The Sun’s staff are far too crude and invasive. Will we ever have a middle ground? At this moment, Dutch Prince Willem-Alexander and his Argentine-born wife Princess Maxima are taking The Associated Press to court. They claim the news agency breached the Dutch Mediacode by distributing photos of their recent vacation in Argentina. The Dutch Royals decided to take advantage of the Argentine winter to go on a skiing holiday and catch up with Princess Maxima’s family. They gave the media their time by posing on a beach in Holland with their three daughters. In exchange, the press would leave them alone during their South American trip.

Not pleased

Suffice it to say, that didn’t happen. Now the royal family is in an uproar and there are legal proceedings. The photographers didn’t snap anything risque like the bikini-clad Eugenie, but the invasion was just as unnecessary and disrespectful.

Why can’t a compromise be honored? Think of all the aggravation that  could have been avoided for all parties had the media acquiesced to the simple royal request: take these photos now, then let us have our private time.

Since the days of Diana in the 1980s, the dynamic between photographer and royal subject has become kill or be killed; hunter and hunted. The respect is almost nil, replaced instead by an in-your-face attitude. When will it end?

Dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his wife, Crown Princess Maxima, are wondering what to do about the media when it comes to their personal lives.

The pair are usually quite good at staying below the photographers’ radar at home in Holland. The Dutch press is also restricted to the types of photos it can publish, too.

The media agreed last week that in exchange for a photo session at the Wassenaar beach, they would then abstain from taking pictures during the princely vacation in Argentina. Now, however, several different Dutch media outlets have provided published pictures of a vacationing Princess Maxima and her family, in breach of the Dutch Media code.

All bets were off in Argentina, where the European law banning photographers from snapping personal family holidays has gone unheeded. Several shots have been sold to various Spanish-language magazines and newspapers as well as major magazines like Hola! and Hello! These magazines are on sale in the Netherlands, which causes the problem with the Dutch Media code, although the magazines’ Dutch equivalents do not carry the photos at all.

What a Royal headache!

News Summary Royalblog.nl: Dutch papers break ban on royal pics.