King Charles III Breaks Tradition with Christmas Address from Historic Hospital Chapel
This Christmas, King Charles III broke with tradition and recorded his annual festive speech from a former hospital chapel rather than the royal residence. This year's speech focused on national, international and personal challenges and how they can be overcome with the mutual support of society, at the end of a difficult year when Charles III and Kate Middleton were diagnosed with cancer.
King Charles' cancer treatment is ongoing and will continue into next year. In the meantime, the 42-year-old Princess of Wales is gradually resuming some royal duties after announcing in March that she was undergoing chemotherapy and in September she announced that she had finished chemotherapy.
This Christmas broadcast by the monarch was the first time in 18 years that it was not recorded at Buckingham Palace. The 76-year-old king recorded the speech on 23 December at Fitzrovia Chapel, the former chapel of Middlesex Hospital in London.
The Fitzrovia Chapel is distinguished by its Byzantine-style design and golden mosaic ceiling, and the king was ‘absolutely fascinated’ by its scale, ‘amazing beauty’ and history, The Telegraph reports.
The foundation stone for the chapel was laid by King Charles III's grandfather, King George VI, when the hospital was rebuilt in 1928. Although the medical centre was closed in 2005, the chapel remains open to the public.
The late Queen Elizabeth usually filmed her Christmas addresses at Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace or Sandringham, where the royal family has celebrated Christmas for generations, and King Charles followed his mother's example by recording the broadcast at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in 2022 and at Buckingham Palace in 2023.
The Christmas Day broadcast is one of the most famous festive traditions of the British sovereign, which was launched by King George V in 1932 and first televised by Queen Elizabeth in 1957. The broadcasts have been recorded in advance since 1960 and have been distributed as a way for the sovereign to reflect on current events, the meaning of Christmas and the landscape of the world stage.