Queen Elizabeth II
The two special details of your Christmas speech
Queen Elizabeth II gives her Christmas address every year – it is usually taken at Buckingham Palace (photo).
© imago / i Images
Queen Elizabeth II gave a very special Christmas address this year. Two details about the unusual setting are touching.
The traditional Christmas address by Queen Elizabeth II (94) was different as the whole year was different. Instead of being recorded in a splendid and festively decorated room in Buckingham Palace, this time the speech was recorded in a somewhat simpler room at Windsor Castle. The queen is sitting at a brown table in a purple dress with pearl earrings, a pearl necklace and a striking brooch, a Christmas tree lights up in the background and a window provides a view of the lush greenery in the park. Next to her speech manuscript there is a photo on the table next to the queen.
In terms of content, her speech was about "acts of kindness and heroism during this extraordinary year," as it says on her Instagram account. The complete speech can be seen there, embedded in a "Christmas program" with a review of the year. The Queen herself is also quoted in the commentary on the video: "In the UK and around the world, people have faced the challenges of the year in great ways and I am so proud and moved by this quiet, indomitable spirit."
Two special details
Two details about the setting of this year's Christmas speech were particularly touching. For one thing, the only really striking piece of jewelry the Queen wore was her mother's Courtauld Thomson shell brooch, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (1900-2002).
The brooch consists of diamonds and a single pearl as well as delicate diamond chains that hang down in different lengths. According to the Daily Mail, it was designed by Lord Courtauld-Thomson, the son of a famous Scottish inventor, and in 1919 in London by The Goldsmiths and Silversmiths Co., Ltd. before it was bequeathed to Queen Elizabeth, the future Queen Mother, from his sister Winifred Hope Thomson in 1944.
The Queen Mother wore the brooch on her 100th birthday. Queen Elizabeth II had also worn them when the statue of her mother was unveiled and for the wedding (2011) of granddaughter Zara Phillips (39) with Mike Tindall (42).
The other touching detail is the only photo on her table. It shows husband Prince Philip in a light blue sweater and a chic shirt with a collar. The photo is said to have been taken in 2002 in Sandringham, Norfolk. In contrast to the speeches in previous years, this time there were no photos of their grandchildren or other family members to be seen.
Christmas alone at Windsor Castle
The Queen and her husband, Prince Philip (99) had withdrawn to this castle because of the corona pandemic. There they celebrated Christmas without the traditional family meetings.