When Is The King’s Speech 2024?

Almost every Christmas throughout her 70-year reign, Queen Elizabeth II delivered a speech known as the Christmas Broadcast. While she wasn’t the first British monarch to deliver a Christmas speech – her grandfather, King George V, created the tradition in 1932 – she did pioneer an array of features of the annual festive address. In 1957, she delivered the first televised Christmas speech, while 1967 saw this broadcast in colour and 1997 marked the first broadcast published on the internet. (In 2012, she even went so far as to record her Christmas speech in 3D, but that didn’t really catch on.) In 2022, after the sad passing of his mother, King Charles III delivered his first Christmas broadcast – and in 2024, it’s time for his third. Here’s when we will get to see the King’s speech this Christmas.

When Is The King’s Christmas Broadcast 2024?

This year, the King’s Christmas speech will be broadcast at 3pm on BBC One, ITV1 and Sky News, lasting around 10 minutes. The speech can also be streamed at the same time on these channels’ live feeds. If you prefer radio, tune into BBC Radio 4 at 3pm to hear Charles’ assessment of 2024.

Afterwards, the speech will be available to rewatch on YouTube: on the BBC’s channel, and on the Royal Family’s channel. The transcript will also be published at royal.uk. (You can read 2023’s speech here.)

What Is The Purpose Of The Speech?

The Royal Christmas speech is an opportunity for the British monarch to provide a personal message to their subjects, sharing reflections on the issues facing the nation and the world and offering hope and guidance to those who need it.

In his first speech in 2022, Charles spoke from the Chapel of St George at Windsor Castle and reflected on the life and impact of his late mother, who is buried with his father, Prince Philip, at the chapel. Acknowledging hardship faced by people across the globe – including conflict, famine, natural disasters and the energy crisis’ impact on household bills – the King thanked those giving to charity and helping those most in need.

In 2023, the King reiterated this theme of care, describing charities as ‘an essential backbone of our society’ and connecting their work to the Christmas story. Ever the eco-King, Charles also called on people to ‘protect the Earth and our natural world as the one home which we all share’.

Across her eight decades of speeches, Queen Elizabeth II reflected on similar themes, but also occasionally got very personal, sharing family milestones and values against a backdrop of global events, spanning everything from the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. to natural disasters to her daughter Anne’s marriage to Mark Phillips. In a year where both he and his daughter-in-law Princess Catherine have undergone treatment for cancer, Charles may well get personal in his 2024 Christmas address, too.

Is It Pre-Recorded?

Yes, while we may take time out of our festive afternoons of indulgence to watch King Charles’ annual speech, the monarch’s Christmas is uninterrupted as he records his speech ahead of time. However, this was not always the case: George V and son George VI delivered all of their Christmas speeches live, apart from the latter’s final speech which was pre-recorded as the monarch had recently undergone lung surgery.

Queen Elizabeth II’s first seven speeches were broadcast live, but in 1959 the young monarch switched to pre-recording so that the whole Commonwealth could hear the important speech on Christmas day. Because of time differences across the globe, people in Australia and New Zealand would normally hear the speech on Boxing Day rather than Christmas Day, but the success of the 1959 speech – which was shipped to all overseas territories after being recorded one week before Christmas – means every Royal broadcast has been pre-recorded ever since.