Allport Speaks with HISTORY About Queen Elizabeth’s First Televised Broadcast

October 4, 2022

HISTORY

Alan Allport

History Department

Europe

HISTORY

Alan Allport

King George V began the tradition of delivering a Christmas Day message to the subjects of the British monarchy worldwide in 1932, and it was his granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II, who first televised the annual event 25 years later. The broadcasts offered viewers a rare, humanizing glimpse inside her residence and at her mannerisms, while reaching a vast audience.

“The idea of beaming the image of the monarch into ordinary people's homes represented a new kind of intimacy in the relationship between the Crown and the masses,” says Alan Allport, Dr. Walter Montgomery and Marian Gruber Professor of History. “The royal family has long faced the difficult balancing act of maintaining the dignity and mystique of monarchy while also appearing to be approachable and possessing enough of the 'common touch.’ ”

Read more in the HISTORY article, "Queen Elizabeth’s First Televised Broadcast Presented a New Type of Monarch."