Break from royal tradition: King Charles to deliver Christmas speech from former hospital chapel
King Charles III will break with tradition and deliver his Christmas speech from a former hospital chapel, Buckingham Palace announced Monday. This change in venue comes as the UK monarch continues treatment for cancer diagnosed earlier this year.
The pre-recorded message will be broadcast on Christmas Day at 3pm GMT on Sky News. This year marks the first time that the annual address won’t be delivered from a royal residence since 2006. That year, Queen Elizabeth II spoke from Southwark Cathedral.
The chosen location, the Fitzrovia Chapel in central London, served as part of Middlesex Hospital for nearly a century. Buckingham Palace described the chapel as “a place of solace, prayer and rest for staff and patients.” In a statement on X, the Royal Family explained the historical significance of the chapel saying, “In 1928, His Majesty’s grandfather, King George VI, laid the foundation stone of the building. The featured Christmas tree was donated to Croydon BME Forum and Macmillan Cancer Support’s ‘Can You C Me?’ project and will be placed in the Royal Trinity Hospice, Clapham, the oldest hospice in the United Kingdom.”
The actual message remains confidential until its transmission, but according to a palace insider quoted by Reuters, it will address various difficulties at international, national and personal challenges levels, whilst emphasising how societal unity and mutual assistance can help overcome it.
Charles’s Christmas speech comes after a year of medical challenges for the royal family. Princess Catherine, his daughter-in-law, also underwent cancer treatment, completing chemotherapy in September. The King’s treatment for unspecified form of cancer is expected to continue into 2025, although he has gradually returned to public duties.
This year’s message, recorded earlier in December, takes place in the elaborate Grade II listed chapel, featuring more than 500 stars in its gold-leaf ceiling and approximately 40 varieties of marble.
