http://www.royal.gov.uk/ImagesandBroadcasts/TheQueensChristmasBroadcasts/AhistoryofChristmasBroadcasts.aspx
The official website of The British Monarcy
A history of Christmas Broadcasts
The text of the first Christmas speech was written by poet and writer Rudyard Kipling and began with the words: "I speak now from my home and from my heart to you all."
The King acknowledged the unifying force of technology in his historic speech: "I speak now from my home and from my heart to you all; to men and women so cut off by the snows, the desert, or the sea, that only voices out of the air can reach them."
As the sound of a global family sharing common interests, the Broadcast made a huge impact on its audience of 20 million. Equally impressed, George V made a Broadcast every Christmas Day subsequently until his death in 1936.
George V's last Christmas Broadcast in 1935 came less than a month before his death and the King's voice sounded weaker. He spoke of his people's joys and sorrows, as well as his own, and there was a special word for his children.
Early Christmas Broadcasts
King George V's eldest son and the new king, Edward VIII, never delivered a Christmas Broadcast, as his reign lasted less than a year.
The task fell to King George VI, King Edward's younger brother, who made his first broadcast in December 1937 in which he thanked the nation and Empire for their support during the first year of his reign.
Though the Christmas Broadcast was already popular by this time, it had still not yet become the regular tradition it is today. Indeed, there had been no broadcasts in 1936 or 1938.
It was the outbreak of war in 1939 which firmly established the Royal Christmas Broadcast. With large parts of the world now facing an uncertain future, King George VI spoke live to offer a message of reassurance to his people.
He dressed in the uniform of the Admiral of the Fleet, sitting in front of two microphones on a table at Sandringham. It was to be a landmark speech and was to have an important effect on the listening public as they were plunged into the uncertainty of war:
"A new year is at hand. We cannot tell what it will bring. If it brings peace, how thankful we shall all be. If it brings us continued struggle we shall remain undaunted."
