Some facts about the Royal Christmas message

The Royal Christmas message has been broadcast for many years and by several Sovereigns. Here are just a few interesting facts about some of them:

1932 – The first Royal Christmas message was given by King George V, and was composed by the author Rudyard Kipling.

1936 – King Edward VII never gave a Christmas message as he abdicated before his first Christmas on the throne

1952 – Queen Elizabeth II made her first Christmas message

1957 – The Christmas message is televised for the first time – prior to this year it was broadcast on radio

1969 – There was no Christmas message broadcast in this year as the Queen felt that she had been on tv too much due to a Royal Family documentary broadcast this year.

1998 – The message is available on the internet for the first time

2007 – The Queen marks 50 years since her first televised message by launching her own channel on YouTube!

One thing is for sure, the Royal Christmas message, which has been a tradition for over 50 years from radio broadcasts to video presentations, does not look as if it is ever going to fail to reach it’s massive audience around the world by whatever technology means available!

See if you can answer some questions about the Christmas message.