The Queen's 2011 Christmas message will be available in yet another format this year, according to a report in today's "Telegraph," December 22. After the traditional Christmas broadcast has been aired, viewers will be able to download a free e-book transcription to their Amazon Kindles. Kindle transcriptions will also be available for every broadcast since the Queen's first Christmas address in 1952.
Queen's Christmas Broadcast to the Commonwealth a holiday tradition
Every Christmas Day, Queen Elizabeth's pre-recorded "holiday letter" is broadcast on television, the Internet and radio. Timed to air sometime after the last mince pie and slice of Christmas pudding has been consumed in the United Kingdom, the speech is as much part of Christmas as are gifts and tinsel.
This is the one speech that the monarch writes personally, and it usually recaps the year, includes a moral lesson or comment and a look to the next year, and wishes the listener a happy Christmas and New Year. The year 2011 has been amazing for the Royal Family and 2012 is also shaping up, so this year's message should have an above-average dose of goodwill and peace to all mankind.
Queen's 2011 Christmas speech available live and archived for the future
Anyone equipped with a radio or with Internet access has a shot at hearing the Queen's speech in 2011. The speech will air at 3 p.m. British time -- 15:00 GMT -- and will stream live via the British monarchy's website for the second year. It will then be archived on YouTube. This year, for the first time, the speech was produced by Sky TV.
For those who don't have or want a Kindle, the transcription also appears on the official British Monarchy's website, as does the video, and pops into newspapers within the hour.
Here's where you can catch the Queen's speech in 2011 (all times are in GMT):
Queen's 2011 Christmas Message to the Commonwealth, live or nearly live on Christmas Day:
- Sky News: 15:00 (30 minutes): Sky News online (7 a.m. PST, 10 a.m. EST, time zone converter)
- BBC1: 15:00 (10 minutes)
- BBC World Service (radio): 15:05 (5 minutes) [More Information]
- Royal Channel on YouTube: Live, then archived.
Reruns of the 2011 Queen's speech on Christmas Day:
- Sky News: 16:30, 17:30, 18:30, 19:30
- BBC News Channel: Sunday, 25 December at 17:20 and 20:20
- BBC Radio Scotland: 17:00
Archives of the Queen's 2011 speech:
- The British Monarchy website
- Royal Channel on YouTube
- Amazon.com's Kindle store
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Get British Royal Family news by subscribing to this column or using the RSS feed. Linda Gentile is the British Royal Family Examiner and you can also follow on Twitter and Facebook. And, for yet more British life and culture, check out Linda's British Life column.
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