Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas for me without the Queen’s speech. Every year, without fail at 3pm, it’s time for Queenie and it’s as vital a part of the day as sprouts and gifts, so I thought we’d take a look at how it all began and how it’s moved on since the Queen’s first Christmas broadcast.

The very first time Queen Elizabeth II issued a televised Christmas broadcast was in 1957 but it began much earlier on radio with her grandfather King George V, in 1932 on the BBC Empire Service.

The Queen has issued a televised message every year on Christmas Day since then, with the exception of 1969. This was because the Queen felt that there’d been enough television exposure of her during the year following the Investiture of the Prince of Wales and Richard Cawston’s Royal Family documentary. The documentary was repeated on Christmas Day so the Queen issued a written Christmas message instead of the usual televised one.

Her 1957 broadcast was first posted on YouTube in December 2007 and the Queen said of it, “I very much hope that this new medium will make my Christmas message more personal and direct.

“That it is possible for some of you to see me today is just another example of the speed at which things are changing all around us.”

You can see the first televised Queen’s Christmas message here.

The format of the Queen’s speech hasn’t differed much from its first televised outing but there have been various additions along the way. For instance, in 1979, the new Ceefax service offered subtitles so that the hard of hearing could enjoy the Queen’s speech too.

The Queen also makes a point of setting aside some time to review the major events of the year, and in 1988, she added messages to her original speech – which is pre-recorded – about the Clapham Junction rail crash, Lockerbie disaster and the Armenian earthquake.

In 1992, the Queen made her famous annus horribilis speech in which she described the awful year the royal family had experienced which included the devastating fire at Windsor Castle.

The Queen’s speech in 1997 was one of the major ones in the history of the Christmas Day broadcasts and had a theme of “the intertwining of joy and sadness” of that memorable year. It opened with pictures of Westminster Abbey, which the Queen reminded viewers had that year been the setting for the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales as well as the celebration of her own Golden Wedding Anniversary.

The Queen also paid tribute to Diana then reminded viewers of the fire at Windsor Castle before showing the restored rooms. She then reminded viewers of her trips to Canada, India and Pakistan, and to Hong Kong to mark its return to China. We also saw her meeting with Nelson Mandela and at the conclusion of the speech, Her Majesty welcomed the imminent devolution of power to Scotland and Wales, and talked about the benefits of being a United Kingdom.

In 2001, the Queen’s broadcast centered around the September 11th attacks in what was her 50th televised message.

The broadcasts aren’t all doom and gloom though and over the years, the Queen has become far less formal than she was in the early days and we’ve got to know the Royal family much better.

I guess in the next few years, the Queen’s speech will become the King’s speech, and it remains to be seen whether the King will be Charles or William but won’t it seem odd having God Save The King being played and TV announcers saying, “And now, the King’s Christmas message to the Commonwealth” or whatever they say by then? Very odd!

Is the Queen’s Christmas broadcast vital viewing in your house too? Let us know.