The Queen's Christmas Message – 1958

Thu 25th Dec 1958, 15:00 on BBC Television

The Queen's second live Christmas television broadcast to peoples of the Commonwealth.

Elizabeth II uses one of her favourite themes in her Christmas Messages through the years; faith and family. The Queen talks of the importance of both spiritual and family values as she explains the reasons why she has declined requests for her two young children to appear in the Broadcast and details the number of foreign trips which will be made by members of her family in the forthcoming year. The Queen recognises the importance of scientific development, but also highlights the importance of spirituality in the history of mankind: 'prophets and dreamers, philosophers, men of ideas and poets, artists in paint, sculpture and music, the whole company who challenge and encourage or who entertain and give pleasure' as well as 'the teachers in Church, school and university, whose enormous job it is to awaken the minds of the younger generations and instil into them the essence of our accumulated civilisation.'

Copyright - BBC (For fair use only.) (For educational purposes.)