For many millions, it is as integral a part of Christmas Day as roast turkey, mince pies and exchanging presents.
Tomorrow, families all over Britain will gather around the television at 3pm to watch the Queen’s annual message.
It is always one of the most watched programmes on TV and this year, with Her Majesty’s acknowledgement of the ‘bumpy’ path the Royal Family and the nation has experienced in the past 12 months, it is likely to be more compelling viewing than ever.
After so many broadcasts the Queen, of course, is comfortably familiar in front of the camera, but even so this year she will quite possibly deliver her most difficult, her most painful and perhaps, from the monarchy’s point of view, her most crucial Christmas message ever.
With Her Majesty’s acknowledgement of the ‘bumpy’ path the Royal Family and the nation has experienced in the past 12 months, it is likely to be more compelling viewing than ever (pictured: making this year’s broadcast to the nation from Windsor Castle in Berkshire)
Viewers will search for obvious clues in her words about the family crises that have rocked the royals, from Prince Andrew’s catastrophic television interview about his friendship with a convicted sex offender to Prince Harry and Meghan’s struggles with living in the royal spotlight, and ongoing worries over Prince Philip, who has spent the past four days in hospital.
Speaking about the difficulties of the last year in which Andrew had to step back from public duties, she will acknowledge the importance of ‘small steps’ in overcoming problems.
Her words will be addressed primarily to the country as a whole following a year of political turmoil over the election and Brexit, but royal sources say they will also speak to the problems in her own family.
The comments – albeit thinly-veiled – are nonetheless her first public reference to the personal turmoil endured by her family this year.
As well as Andrew, Philip faced a police investigation over a car crash which injured two women, while Prince Harry admitted to tensions in his relationship with his older brother William. Inevitably they will be compared with another difficult domestic year for the Queen – 1992, which she dubbed her ‘annus horribilis’.
That was the year of three royal marriage break-ups – including Charles and Diana – as well as the Windsor Castle fire and the public row over who would pay for the repairs.
Last year, to mark the Prince of Wales’s 70th birthday the closest pictures to hand were of her and Philip holding their infant son and another of grandfather Charles posing with both his sons, their wives and grandchildren
But on that occasion she used another speech marking her 40th anniversary as monarch to speak out. Her Christmas message, however, referred only to the fact that her family had ‘lived through some difficult days this year’.
With her references to a path which ‘is not always smooth, and may at times this year have felt quite bumpy, but small steps can make a world of difference’, observers believe she may also have been drawing on a verse quoted by her father for his Christmas message exactly 80 years ago.
In December 1939 Britain had just embarked on a world war and no one knew the outcome. King George VI quoted Minnie Louise Haskins poem God Knows, which tells of a man who wishes to ‘tread safely into the unknown’.
It was also used at the Queen Mother’s funeral.
But every year the Queen also goes beyond her mere address to convey a broader message through the careful curating of family photographs strategically placed on the desk at her side or on tables close at hand.
A year further back, 2017, and Philip is foremost in the Queen’s thoughts. It was the year of their 70th wedding anniversary and there is a picture of their November 20, 1947, wedding day and another touching portrait to mark the anniversary
Their purpose, however, does not change – to indicate her thoughts on things which have special meaning. This year is no exception. So what does this year’s picture – a still from the broadcast – tell us about the family, and more pertinently about the monarchy?
It was taken last week at Windsor Castle in the green drawing room where cameras had been set up to record the annual message.
Context is important. It was after the election but before the Duke of Edinburgh was admitted to the private King Edward VII’s Hospital in London to be treated for a pre-existing but undisclosed condition.
The fact is the Queen does regularly change the family photographs that adorn her desk, but unquestionably there is a special significance in the ones that appear – as well as the ones that do not – for the recording of the Christmas broadcast.
This year it is noticeable that there is no picture of the newest addition to the Royal Family, Prince Harry’s son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, seventh in the line of succession to the throne and the Queen’s eighth great grandchild.
Instead, aside from Philip in the background, the pictures focus on the immediate line of succession, namely her father King George VI, her son the Prince of Wales and the heirs in line Prince William and Prince George.
In many ways the photographs chosen represent the enduring strength and continuity of the monarchy and are a signal that the Royal Family are here for the good times as well as the bad. King George in naval uniform is pictured making an address to the nation in 1944 with the Second World War at its most critical juncture, while William and his family are picture perfect in the summer sunshine of 2019.
More pictures of her loved ones surround the Queen during her 2015 message. Centre stage is a wedding-day snap of Charles and Camilla to mark their tenth wedding anniversary
They are also a snapshot of the past and the future – a King Emperor who came to the throne in 1936, a Queen who has reigned for almost 68 years and three princes-in-waiting who, with good fortune, should ensure the stability of the kingdom until at least the end of the 21st century.
Charles, who is photographed with Camilla, is also given pride of place to mark the 50th anniversary of his investiture as Prince of Wales. There may be, however, another meaning in the photographic arrangement.
Might the Queen be demonstrating a subtle nod to her son’s wishes for a smaller, slimmed-down monarchy which Charles believes will make it more relevant and more resilient?
In the past the Queen has seemed indifferent to such ideas, pointing to the devotion to public service of the minor royals such as the Gloucesters and the Kents. But the issue suddenly seems to have been strengthened this Christmas in the wake of Prince Andrew and the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
Intriguingly, just out of shot is a picture of the Queen with astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, who became the first men on the moon in 1969 – the only year the Queen did not deliver a Christmas broadcast. (Following the Prince of Wales’ investiture and the documentary The Royal Family, it was felt there had been a surfeit of royalty on TV that year.)
So what are the secret photographic props the Queen has used in previous December 25 messages?
Last year, to mark the Prince of Wales’s 70th birthday the closest pictures to hand were of her and Philip holding their infant son and another of grandfather Charles posing with both his sons, their wives and grandchildren.
Sometimes the pictures are placed to reinforce a central part of the Christmas message. This was especially so in 2002, a year in which the Queen lost both her mother and sister
A side table was decorated with wedding pictures of Harry and Meghan, and of Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank, who all married at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, in 2018.
A year further back, 2017, and Philip is foremost in the Queen’s thoughts. It was the year of their 70th wedding anniversary and there is a picture of their November 20, 1947, wedding day and another touching portrait to mark the anniversary.
In the foreground, however, are pictures of George and Princess Charlotte. I am told that they were positioned by the TV production team recording the Christmas film.
‘From time to time the producers have their own ideas of which royals they also want in the shot and the Queen is always happy to go along with it,’ says a courtier.
More pictures of her loved ones surround the Queen during her 2015 message. Centre stage is a wedding-day snap of Charles and Camilla to mark their tenth wedding anniversary.
It has special memories for the Queen – she didn’t attend the marriage ceremony in Windsor Guildhall, but she spoke warmly at their reception and it marked the end of a painful episode for the royals.
Nearby are William, Kate and George together with six-month-old Charlotte, the new addition to the family. But the Queen’s desk is dominated with a favourite picture of her and Philip. Smiling and relaxed in headscarf and cap as they lean on sticks, it is how THEY see each other.
Sometimes the pictures are placed to reinforce a central part of the Christmas message. This was especially so in 2002, a year in which the Queen lost both her mother and sister.
At her side are a young Princess Margaret, who died aged 71, and another of the Queen Mother – who was 101 when she passed away – as a young woman, King George beside her.
The installation was a poignant reminder of the phrase the King used to describe his ideal family unit – ‘we four’ he referred to them as. The Queen is the only survivor of that loving little group
So remember when you sit down to watch the Queen tomorrow, every picture tells a story.