the queen speech

The Queen's Christmas Day speech to be 'particularly personal' in year of Prince Philip's death

The monarch's annual Christmas Day speech will be personal

Deputy Online Editor
December 23, 2021

The Queen is set to deliver a particularly personal Christmas Day message this year, as the monarch prepares to spend her first festive period since the death of the Duke of Edinburgh.

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A photograph released by Buckingham Palace ahead of her televised address to the nation shows the Queen sat behind a desk in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle, accompanied by a single, framed picture of the Queen and her late husband Prince Philip taken in 2007 at Broadlands country house, Hampshire, to mark their Diamond Wedding Anniversary.

WATCH: The Royal Family on Christmas Day at Sandringham through the years

The handout still shows the Queen wearing an embossed wool shift dress in Christmas red, by British designer Angela Kelly, as well as a sapphire chrysanthemum brooch which the then-Princess Elizabeth wore for a photocall on her honeymoon, also to Broadlands, in 1947, and for the couple's Diamond Wedding celebrations.

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This year's message follows the death of her husband in April while coronavirus restrictions at the time meant the Queen was memorably and poignantly forced to sit alone in St George's Chapel for his funeral service.

© Photo: Alamy

The monarch sat behind a photo of her and Prince Philip

The Queen will be joined at Windsor Castle on Christmas Day by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, having shelved her customary trip to Sandringham as a "precautionary" measure amid rising coronavirus cases.

Her speech marks the end of a year peppered with both joy and immense sadness. The Queen welcomed four new great-grandchildren to the family - August to Princess Eugenie, Lucas to Zara Tindall, Lilibet to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and Sienna to Princess Beatrice.

Prince Philip and the Queen at Broadlands in Hampshire

The Queen used her 2020 Christmas broadcast to deliver a heartfelt message of hope to the country, praising the "indomitable spirit" of those who had risen "magnificently" to the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Queen's address to the nation will be broadcast across multiple channels at 3pm on Christmas Day.

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