Just like last year, I didn’t see the broadcast of the King’s Christmas Broadcast (video above), though I know it was broadcast in New Zealand on Christmas Day because a friend mentioned watching it. I checked on YouTube after I got home last night, but, also like last year, it wasn’t posted yet. I watched it this morning, and found out that it had been posted in the wee hours of the night NZ time, well after I'd gone to bed.
I thought that King Charles did a good a job, and the video itself was well-made. The late Queen used to to mix up the video a bit from time to time, which was nice, so it’s good to see the King continuing that. Because the monarch is the head of the Church of England, some amount of religiosity is probably pretty much mandatory, but I’m impressed that the King, while talking about the Christian Christmas story and even a hymn, also mentioned people with “no religion”. Overall, I think his tone is pretty much on point: Religious for the religious, while acknowledging that not everyone is religious.
I thought the King handled the talk of peace as directly as he could without taking a political position on and of the any wars, something monarchs aren't allowed to do (that’s the job of the elected government). Despite that constraint, he nevertheless was able to stress the importance of peace.
I noted last year that the King “seemed more relaxed and at ease in front of the camera than his late mother did”, and that’s still true, but I’ve also noticed that his manor overall is much less formal than his mother’s was—one might even say he often seems like a regular person. The video has several scenes of the King being hugged, and I simply cannot even imagine ever seeing anyone, and certainly not a subject, hugging the late Queen (though I'm sure some folks would have liked to). Speaking of which, part of the video montage near the end shows the NZ women’s rugby team giving the King a group hug, and at the time, he seemed genuinely pleased to get the hug.
I haven’t seen these messages on TV every year, but then I watch them on YouTube instead, and would even if I didn’t share them here. Maybe it’s because I never saw the annual broadcast until I moved to New Zealand, but, as I said last year, “I’m still fascinated by them, as bits of contemporary history, and for 28 years, a bit of my own, too.” Make that 29 years.
Previously:
The King's Christmas Broadcast 2022
The King’s first Christmas Broadcast – 2022 (oddly, the video is no longer available, but the post has my commentary about it.
The Queen’s Christmas Broadcast 2021
The Queen’s Christmas Broadcast 2020
The Queen’s Christmas Broadcast 2019
The Queen’s Christmas Broadcast 2018
The Queen’s Christmas Broadcast 2017 (and 1957, too…)
The Queen’s Christmas Broadcast 2016
The Queen’s Christmas Broadcast 2015
Previous years’ broadcasts are no longer available.
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