King-Emperor
George V made the first-ever royal Christmas speech. It was broadcast
on the radio to all the peoples of the British Empire on Christmas
Day 1932.
For
many years, the
King could not be persuaded to give a personal message to his Empire on
Christmas Day. This was due largely to his belief that he lacked the
sophistication and flair of other broadcasters, and as the message
would be personal in nature rather than a formal address he could not
hide behind formality to combat his fears.
All
that changed when, at the suggestion of Prime Minister Ramsay
MacDonald, Rudyard Kipling was appointed to write the script. King
George respected and admired both of these men, so the reluctant speaker was finally persuaded to deliver his message.
The thick tablecloth that can be seen in the picture below was added to help muffle the sound of rustling papers: the King was so nervous when speaking that his hands shook! Despite this, the King's delivery and Kipling's majestic words were widely acclaimed. The King sounded like a father speaking to his family; Kipling's Christmas message is often seen by historians as one of the great speeches of the twentieth century.
The thick tablecloth that can be seen in the picture below was added to help muffle the sound of rustling papers: the King was so nervous when speaking that his hands shook! Despite this, the King's delivery and Kipling's majestic words were widely acclaimed. The King sounded like a father speaking to his family; Kipling's Christmas message is often seen by historians as one of the great speeches of the twentieth century.
This
is the text of the speech:
“Through
one of the marvels of modern science, I am enabled, this Christmas
Day, to speak to all my peoples throughout the Empire. I take it as a
good omen that wireless should have reached its present perfection at
a time when the Empire has been linked in closer union, for it offers
us immense possibilities to make that union closer still. It may be
that our future will lay upon us more than one stern test. Our past
will have taught us how to meet it unshaken. For the present, the
work to which we are all equally bound is to arrive at a reasoned
tranquillity within our borders, to regain prosperity without
self-seeking and to carry with us those whom the burden of past years
has disheartened or overborne. My life’s aim has been to serve as I
might towards those ends. Your loyalty, your confidence in me, has
been my abundant reward...
I speak now from my home and 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; to those cut off from fuller life by blindness, sickness or infirmity, and to those who are celebrating this day with their children and their grandchildren - to all, to each, I wish a happy Christmas...
God bless you."
I speak now from my home and 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; to those cut off from fuller life by blindness, sickness or infirmity, and to those who are celebrating this day with their children and their grandchildren - to all, to each, I wish a happy Christmas...
God bless you."
The
King can be heard speaking these words here:
The
speech was advertised in one Australian newspaper as ‘proof of the
innate solidarity of Empire’. Ironically,
George V's reign saw the rise of communism, socialism, fascism, Irish
Republicanism and the Indian independence movement.
It must have been wonderful for the peoples of the British Empire to hear the voice of their King in their own homes for the first time ever, and with such an inspiring message.
When the people of Japan heard their Emperor's voice on the airwaves for the very first time, it was in 1945 when he broadcast the news of Japan's surrender.
Some of the information in this article was taken from here:
It must have been wonderful for the peoples of the British Empire to hear the voice of their King in their own homes for the first time ever, and with such an inspiring message.
When the people of Japan heard their Emperor's voice on the airwaves for the very first time, it was in 1945 when he broadcast the news of Japan's surrender.
Some of the information in this article was taken from here:
A portrait of King George V in his coronation robes:
