What All the Photos Displayed During Queen Elizabeth's Christmas Address Mean
This Christmas, Queen Elizabeth will carry on the tradition she started in 1957, addressing the nation with a special holiday broadcast reflecting on the year and the royal milestones of 2019. And because Her Majesty is nothing if not carefully considered, the photos she's chosen to display in her portrait commemorating this year's address echo those same themes.
Taken in the Green Drawing Room at Windsor Castle, the picture shows the Queen surrounded by photos that give a nod to some of the royal family's most special moments, like the photo of her eldest son, Prince Charles, and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, to mark the 50th anniversary of Charles's investiture as the Prince of Wales.
Appropriately, the photo of Charles is joined by a portrait of the Queen's husband, Prince Philip, who was admitted to the hospital for treatment as a precautionary measure last week.
The younger generation of royals also made an appearance among Her Majesty's collection with a photo of Prince William, Kate Middleton, and their three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. The photo is one of our best glimpses yet of the Cambridge family Christmas card, which leaked online last week but which Will and Kate have not released to the media. (Good to know the Queen is on their list.)
The photo of the Cambridges is a reminder not only of her pride as a grandmother and great-grandmother, but also of the future of the throne, as William and then George follow Charles in the line of succession and are poised to one day lead the monarchy themselves.
Rounding out the family is a photo of the Queen's father, King George VI taken while he was delivering his own message of hope to the country over the radio in 1944.
That last photo is not merely a nod to her beloved father, but fits with the theme of the Queen's address, which Buckingham Palace previewed for journalists today. At one point, she spoke about the commemorations to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day, which she attended in Portsmouth in June. “For the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of that decisive battle, in a true spirit of reconciliation, those who had formerly been sworn enemies came together in friendly commemorations either side of the Channel, putting past differences behind them,” she says, adding: “By being willing to put past differences behind us and move forward together, we honour the freedom and democracy once won for us at so great a cost.”
Her Majesty commemorated another historic moment in during the Christmas address this year with a photo of herself with the Apollo 11 astronauts. The Queen hosted the astronauts at Buckingham Palace after their groundbreaking moon landing in 1969, the 50th anniversary of which was also celebrated this year.
For this year's portrait, the Queen chose a regal blue cashmere dress by Angela Kelly accented with one of her signature pearl necklaces and the famed Prince Albert brooch. The diamond and sapphire brooch was originally gifted to Queen Victoria (Queen Elizabeth's great-great-grandmother) by Prince Albert on the day before their wedding and has since been passed down through the monarchy ever since.
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