Rarely has Elizabeth II’s Christmas speech been so expected. The Queen of England recorded this address a week before Christmas. Exceptionally, Buckingham posted a photo before the speech was broadcast. The Queen wears a brooch with a chrysanthemum symbol hanging from her red dress. This same pin that we see on the frame placed on the desk behind which she is sitting. It is a photo of her taken with her husband, Prince Philip, in 2007 on their 60th wedding anniversary. She already wore this jewel in 1947 at the time of their honeymoon. A tribute to the one who accompanied him for seventy-three years and who died in April 2021.
The queen has been scarce since her brief hospitalization last October. At 95 years old and while she is due to celebrate her 70 years of reign in June 2022, the royal columnist Duncan Larcombe answers the questions of franceinfo.
franceinfo: Why is this speech particularly eagerly awaited this year?
Duncan Larcombe: We are very worried about our health. She spent a night in the hospital last October, it had not happened to her for 22 years! Since then, we hardly saw her. It must have missed many commitments, including the very important COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. She was to be one of the main animators. She’s 95, everyone knows she’s not going to last forever but I think what happened in the fall really made us realize that the Queen is now in the twilight of her reign.
Are we witnessing an informal transition process?
Yes. What we’ve actually seen for a few years now is a very slow and very gradual move towards Prince Charles and Prince William, and some other royals who take on a lot more office than the Queen. The best example is the decision five years ago that she would no longer make official visits abroad. Until then it was a bit of a glamorous moment in its annual calendar. She no longer travels long distances.
Prince William and Prince Charles have gained visibility but also their wives, the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla, and the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate. The questions that will arise in 2022: is this the beginning of the end of the queen’s reign? Will we see his heirs take on even more importance? I think the British royal family’s landscape is on the verge of one of its biggest transitions.
The queen had so far made it a point of honor to keep her rank but this time her health, her age quite simply, will they force her to take a further step back?
Yes. The question really is, to what extent is she going to delegate her official duties? And we are already talking about next June, it will celebrate its platinum jubilee, 70 years of reign. In recent years, there has been speculation that the Queen may decide to step down or step down upon the death of her husband. We lost Prince Philip last April.
“Will the jubilee be a time to celebrate the twilight of Elizabeth II’s reign and officially hand over more and more tasks to her son? To be honest, no one knows.”
Duncan larcombeto franceinfo
It will obviously depend on his health. Either the problems she has recently experienced were temporary, or it is a stronger trend and it is really weakened. No one wants her to become a virtual queen who no longer comes out of her palace and hosts her computer-based receptions through Zoom. The queen herself wouldn’t want that. Her reign was characterized by the way she goes out to meet people. He is a direct monarch, face to face.
In this context, what can we expect from this Christmas address?
It is obviously a Christmas tradition. She has been doing this since 1953 but this year there is huge interest. She will inevitably pay homage to her late husband. But she will be talking a lot more about what happened in Britain this year with the pandemic and the lockdown. It has also been a sensational year for the royal family. Particularly with Prince Andrew involved in the Epstein affair and, of course, the departure of Prince Harry and Meghan to the United States. It will be very interesting to see how Her Majesty thinks about all of this.
Is the image of the royal family today tarnished by all its affairs?
Yes but, it’s paradoxical, I think the queen has never been as popular as she is today. She has truly become the country’s grandmother. During the lockdown, she released poignant messages of support for the nation. The British people have also seen her forced to wear a mask a few meters from her husband’s coffin during the funeral. There was a surge of love and support for the Queen. She is incredibly popular in the hearts of the British. I would not say the same thing of Prince Charles who is called to succeed him. He knows it, moreover, he does not enjoy the same popularity.