ROBERT HARDMAN: King Charles’ Christmas broadcast had a green-tinged wink, but royal advisers had removed all booby traps

Coronation revisited – without the coronation. The King focused yesterday’s Christmas broadcast on the events of May 6, but with an emphasis on service to others rather than the big ceremony.

So instead of seeing again the sight of the Archbishop of Canterbury holding up St. Edward’s Crown, or the hordes of world leaders gathered, we were reminded of those who had made this a very different coronation from any of its predecessors.

“My wife and I were delighted when hundreds of representatives of that selfless army of people – volunteers who serve their communities in so many ways and with such distinction – were able to join us at Westminster Abbey,” the king noted, above shots of the 400 holders of the British Empire Medal who were invited to the abbey in May. ‘They form an essential backbone of our society. Their presence meant so much to both of us and emphasized the significance of the coronation itself: above all, a call for us all to serve each other.”

Coronation revisited – without the coronation. The King focused yesterday’s Christmas broadcast on the events of May 6, but with an emphasis on service to others rather than the grand ceremony.

Likewise, the traditional collage of scenes from across the royal year made no reference to the glitzy coronation concert at Windsor Castle that followed day two of that long weekend. Instead we were reminded of day three, when the focus shifted to the ‘Big Help Out’, that national festival of volunteer work. That’s why the broadcast included footage of the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children helping with a scouting project in Slough. We also saw the King and Queen at the Coronation Garden in Belfast and at the launch of the Coronation Food Project last month.

As expected, the broadcast included a green-tinted nod to the need to “take care of the Earth for the sake of our children’s children.” We also heard a plea to “protect each other” in “a time of increasingly tragic conflict.” In referring to our ‘Abrahamic family of religions and other belief systems in the Commonwealth and the wider world’ the King clearly had events in the Middle East in mind.

He thanked “all who see and seek good for others” and praised those who show “care and compassion.” Some might say that by inviting the Duchess of York to yesterday’s family gathering at Sandringham – bringing her out of the Christmas cold after more than 30 years in exile – the King was underlining his own point. ‘In this way,’ he concluded, ‘we bring out the best in ourselves.’

However, the overarching theme was service provision in all its forms. All very worthy perhaps, but you can hardly blame the king and his advisors. This was the first time in five years that the broadcast was recorded at Buckingham Palace. The last movie filmed there featured the Queen speaking from the White Drawing Room in 2018. That was not an unmitigated success. Snipers on social media immediately fixated on the shiny piano sitting behind Her Majesty, while trolls mocked the fact that the monarch was so rich in Croesus that she owned a gold piano. Left-wing commentators had a field day and the palace just had to explain that this was actually a gold-painted heirloom from Queen Victoria, owned by the Royal Collection Trust.

This time, royal advisors had scoured the site for possible booby traps. For the first time, a live Christmas tree was shown in the Christmas broadcast. This will be replanted in Windsor soil after Christmas. As with last year’s broadcast, all decorations were ‘sustainable’: dried oranges, pine cones, brown glass and so on.

The King spoke from the Center Room of the Palace, which has the advantage of being a functional (although elegant) meeting room. The closest thing to a luxury item is the thin television on the wall and a travel clock in front of a gilded mirror glass. Because he talked while standing instead of at a desk, no photos were visible. In the past, royal watchers would take great pleasure in deciphering the annual placement of the photographs on the royal desk. Who was inside? Who was out? Nevertheless, we had our clues yesterday.

“My wife and I were delighted when hundreds of representatives of that selfless army of people – volunteers who serve their communities in so many ways and with such distinction – were able to join us at Westminster Abbey,” the King noted.

The selection of clips included in the broadcast served as an appeal to all those who were considered current members of the ‘working family’. So we saw footage of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh (in Edinburgh) celebrating the Ukrainian war effort and meeting the Princess Royal’s troops as they prepared for the coronation. Like the Welsh, they continue to perform official duties on behalf of the king and thus appear in the Court Circular. It is for this reason that they are invited to the balcony of Buckingham Palace at events such as the coronation (while the Dukes of Sussex or York are not).

The Middle Room is what is behind the famous net curtains and the French doors that give access to the famous balcony.

The King chose to film this year’s broadcast there, with the Queen Victoria Memorial visible behind him, as his coronation celebrations reached their grand finale there.

Viewers will enjoy a good look at what actually happened there in tonight’s BBC1 documentary Charles III: The Coronation Year (which I wrote and co-produced). Most of this wing of the palace continues to be rewired and renovated. It meant the family had to walk carefully over bare floorboards and make their way through a construction site to greet people – and be greeted by them. A metaphor perhaps for modern royalty – actually a bit like yesterday’s broadcast.