As usual the monarch of the day (in this case King Charles) will make a Christmas broadcast on Christmas Day. It will give GB News something more to moan about but the key thing to keep in mind is that it is not some kind of ancient tradition.
As David Cannadine in Hobsbawm and Ranger, The Invention of Tradition, underlines the Royal Family from the twentieth century onwards have been very good at modernising and inventing traditions to suggest a stable monarchy rooted in long ago and historic practices.
As Cannadine notes the Royal Family was unpopular for most of the nineteenth century (Queen Victoria 1837-1902) and the means to broadcast a Christmas message did not exist anyway.
With the arrival of the BBC that changed and King George V made the first Royal Christmas broadcast in 1932. The founder of the BBC John Reith was an advocate of the monarchy so the broadcast immediately became a tradition which continues getting on for a century later.
Its impact with so many broadcast outlets available in 2025 may well be considerably diminished as with the monarchy itself
Kmflett's Blog 
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