The Queen says she misses her 'beloved' Philip in her most emotional Christmas message ever

The Queen has delivered her most emotional Christmas message ever, paying tribute to her ‘beloved’ late husband Prince Philip and revealing how the Duke of Edinburgh’s ‘mischievous, enquiring twinkle was as bright at the end as when I first set eyes on him’.

The monarch described that there was ‘one familiar laugh missing’ during the festive season this year as she made her most fulsome public tribute to her husband of 73 years and the nation’s longest-serving consort since his death in April aged 99.

Wearing the sapphire brooch she donned on her honeymoon in 1947 and again for her diamond wedding anniversary, the 95-year-old head of state also reached out to families who have lost loved one this year and addressed the Covid crisis.

An intensely private woman, the Queen has touched upon her devastating loss on a handful of occasions since Philip’s death. She has also given permission for Buckingham Palace to release a small number of treasured images of the prince. But today’s message – broadcast at 3pm on both BBC1 and ITV – was by far her most intimate yet.

The monarch sat behind a desk adorned with a solitary photograph of the Queen and the duke in 2007 to mark their 60th wedding anniversary as she spoke to the nation from the White Drawing Room in Windsor Castle.

She also spoke fondly of her eldest son Charles and his wife Camilla, and also of William and Kate, for their climate activism. Just a tacit mention was made to Lilibet Diana, Harry and Meghan’s daughter, as one of four great-grandchildren born this year.

But there was no reference – either on screen or by name during the nine-minute broadcast – to Andrew, Harry or Meghan, the trio having stepped back from royal duties as the House of Windsor faces its most severe crisis since arguably the 1990s.

‘Although it’s a time of great happiness and good cheer for many, Christmas can be hard for those who have lost loved ones,’ the Queen said. ‘This year, especially, I understand why.’

The monarch, with a sapphire chrysanthemum brooch pinned to her Christmas red Angela Kelly dress, said of Philip: ‘His sense of service, intellectual curiosity and capacity to squeeze fun out of any situation were all irrepressible.

‘That mischievous, enquiring twinkle was as bright at the end as when I first set eyes on him. But life, of course, consists of final partings as well as first meetings. And as much as I and my family miss him, I know he would want us to enjoy Christmas.’

The Queen also acknowledged the impact of the Covid variant, having cancelled her regular trip to Sandringham in order to spend Christmas at Windsor. She was joined on the day by Charles and Camilla, Clarence House announced.

‘While Covid again means we can’t celebrate quite as we may have wished, we can still enjoy the many happy traditions,’ the head of state said.

‘I am sure someone somewhere today will remark that Christmas is a time for children. It’s an engaging truth, but only half the story. Perhaps it’s truer to say that Christmas can speak to the child within us all.

‘Adults, when weighed down with worries, sometimes fail to see the joy in simple things, where children do not.

‘And for me and my family, even with one familiar laugh missing this year, there will be joy in Christmas, as we have the chance to reminisce, and see anew the wonder of the festive season through the eyes of our young children, of whom we were delighted to welcome four more this year.’

The Queen also hinted at the prospect of reuniting with loved ones in the new year.

‘February, just six weeks from now, will see the start of my Platinum Jubilee year, which I hope will be an opportunity for people everywhere to enjoy a sense of togetherness… and also to look ahead with confidence,’ she said.

’I wish you all a very happy Christmas.’

The monarch has not been seen in public since early October following a bout of ill-health.

The Queen was accompanied by a single, framed picture of her and Philip captured in 2007 at Broadlands country house in Hampshire to mark their diamond wedding anniversary. The couple had spent their honeymoon there in 1947.

She wore a sapphire chrysanthemum brooch which she has worn during several key moments of her long and happy life with Philip.

The then-Princess Elizabeth first sported it for a photocall on her honeymoon, and she also wore it during the couple’s diamond wedding celebrations.

The Queen has had a lifelong passion for sapphires, thanks to her ‘beloved Papa’, who noticed the cornflower blue gemstones matched the colour of his daughter’s eyes.

Throughout her life, King George VI often gave the gift of sapphires to his eldest daughter – from a bracelet for her 18th birthday in 1944 to a brooch in the shape of a flower basket to mark the birth of her first child, Charles, in 1948.

She loved the suite of sapphires George VI gave her as a wedding present in 1947 so much that she later had a bracelet and tiara made to match.

It prompted Noel Coward to write of a film premiere: ‘The Queen looked luminously lovely and was wearing the largest sapphires I have ever seen.’ 

Today, the suite of sapphires is reserved for what the Queen calls ‘big dressing’ for formal occasions such as State Banquets, while the necklace and earrings are a firm favourite for family occasions.

Other precious gems in her priceless collection include Prince Albert’s sapphire brooch, given to Queen Victoria on the eve of their wedding in 1840 and worn by every queen since, and a sapphire brooch left to her by Queen Mary that once belonged to the Empress Marie of Russia, mother of the murdered Tsar Nicholas II.

Buckingham Palace has also announced that a service of thanksgiving for the life of the Duke of Edinburgh will take place at Westminster Abbey in the spring.  

Sources said they ‘fully expected’ Harry and Meghan to be invited to the service, alongside the rest of the Royal Family.

Many see it as a good way to ‘break the ice’ between the couple and their estranged relatives following their acrimonious departure from the UK and royal life.

The Queen made no reference to Andrew, Harry or Meghan, but praised Charles, Camilla, William and Kate during her Christmas Day message. 

The House of Windsor was plunged into its most severe crisis since arguably Princess Diana’s death in 1997 after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex quit royal duties last year.

Harry and Meghan proceeded to make a series of bombshell allegations against the Royal Family during their interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Accusations of racism forced the Queen to pointedly claim that ‘recollections may vary’ as she issued an unprecedented plea to deal with their issues privately as a family.

Though it is thought that Her Majesty has invited the couple to a service of thanksgiving for the Duke of Edinburgh’s life, concerns remain over Harry’s forthcoming ‘tell-all’ memoir – due to be published next autumn after the Platinum Jubilee.

Meanwhile, the Queen’s middle son Andrew stepped out of the public spotlight over questions about his friendship with convicted paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, and Epstein’s ‘madam’ Ghislaine Maxwell, who is on trial in New York accused of sex trafficking. She denies the allegations.

The Duke of York is currently battling a civil lawsuit filed in the US which alleges that Epstein trafficking victim Virginia Roberts was forced to have sex with the senior royal on three occasions in 2001.

Andrew has consistently and vehemently denied Miss Roberts’s claims, and his lawyers are trying to get the case thrown out.

From a radio address in 1952 to slick, modern day TV production: How The Queen’s Speech has changed over the years

The Queen’s Christmas Message is a staple of British Christmas tradition.

The monarch marks the festive season every year with a televised address to her subjects on Christmas Day at 3pm on the dot.

The tradition began in 1932 when King George V, Queen Victoria’s grandfather, used the radio to address his subjects.

He was convinced to do so by the founder of the BBC, Sir John Reith, who believed that an address by the Sovereign to inaugurate the Empire Service (which became the BBC World Service) would give it a kickstart.

Radio was still a relatively new medium at the time and the King had been initially skeptical about the suitability of an address but quickly grew to love the chance to talk to his subjects.

The first address was delivered live across the British Empire using General Post Offices who received the transmission from British shortwave transmitters.

The traditional time of 3pm for the broadcast was chosen to be at that time to allow as many people across the Empire to tune in.

King George’s address was the first time that many of his subjects had that level of access to the Sovereign.

Addresses became firm favourites of Britons throughout World War Two as George V’s younger son, King George VI, used radio addresses to rouse the morale of war-weary nation.

When the 26-year-old Queen ascended to the throne in 1952, she used her first broadcast to thank the people of Britain for their support and asked them to pray for her ahead of her Coronation the following year.

Dressed in a classic suit, the Queen took her seat behind a desk at Sandringham, Norfolk, where equipment had been set up to record her message for radio. 

It came months after the premature death of her father and marked the most important address of the young monarch’s life since a radio speech on her 21st birthday in 1947 from South Africa.

She used the speech to also extend greetings to British servicepeople serving abroad. 

The first televised Christmas Message came in 1957 as the Queen followed on from her coronation in royal events that were broadcast on television.

She used the broadcast to showcase pictures of her children, the young Prince Charles and Princess Anne on the desk at Sandringham.

It was one of the few times that the broadcast was delivered lines and the producer for the address later said that the Queen was a natural with a teleprompter. 

Some 10 years later the Queen’s Christmas broadcast was shown in colour for the first time.

She said: ‘Modern communications make it possible for me to talk to you in your homes and to wish you a merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.

These techniques of radio and television are modern, but the Christmas message is timeless.’  

The speech was recorded in Buckingham Palace, although the framed photos that now draw so much interest and symbolism were not included in the set-up as they were in 1957. 

In her speech, the Queen paid tribute to Canada on the centenary of its Confederation.

The Queen focussed on family in her 1971 speech, as she invited her youngest children, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, to browse through a photobook with her.

The speech was focussed on the theme of family and marked one of the only times that the broadcast had involved other royals.

The occassion marked a rare outing for the young princes as the Royal Family tend to remain largely private until they come of age. 

Breaking from the norm, the 1975 speech was broadcast from the gardens of Buckingham Palace, marking the first time it was recorded outdoors. 

The Queen wrapped up in a heavy coat to stay warm on the chilly and grey winter’s day.  

It was a year of record inflation and unemployment in the UK under prime minister Harold Wilson. and worldwide, to which The Queen referred. 

She said: ‘We are horrified by brutal and senseless violence, and above all the whole fabric of our lives is threatened by inflation, the frightening sickness of the world today.

‘Then Christmas comes, and once again we are reminded that people matter, and it is our relationship with one another that is most important.’ 

 In another break with tradition, the 2006 Christmas Message was filmed at Southwark Cathedral

It marked only the second time the speech was filmed outside of a royal residence.

The Queen donned a vibrant green skirt suit as she met children working on a nativity collage at the cathedral.

In her speech, the monarch thanked the public for the ‘very generous response’ to her 80th birthday.

 She also met children who were working on a nativity collage as part of the break from royal residences.

The Queen’s address in 1997 was overshadowed by the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in August of that year.

The months after Diana’s death saw intense criticism of the Sovereign who was pressured into a public showing of sorrow at the events.

After doing so, the Queen again acknowledged her sorrow at Diana’s passing by quoting a William Blake poem about the intertwining of joy and sorrow.

She also remarked that the year was not just sad as the monarch and Prince Philip celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary. 

The Queen’s sorrow was also a theme in the 2002 Christmas Message five years later.

The year had seen the passing of the Queen’s mother, the Queen Mother, and her only sister Princess Margaret.

Much like 1997, the Queen had also celebrated in the year of her Golden Jubilee.

In the speech, she expressed her sympathies for those who had also lost loved ones over the year and commented on the festivities over the Jubilee summer. 

The Queen used the 60th anniversary of her first broadcast in 2017 to welcome a new member of the Royal Family.

The Queen welcomed Prince Harry’s then new fiancee, Meghan by featuring a framed photo of the couple from their engagement shoot was on display alongside other family pictures.

The annual address was produced by Sky News and was recorded in the palace’s 1844 room which is decorated with a large tree and features family photos. 

The Queen’s role as a figure for national unity became even more important during the pandemic. 

While still shielding from Covid at Sandringham in Norfolk, the Queen paid tribute to the sacrifices that young people had made to protect the old during the pandemic.

She spoke of the indomitable spirit of the British people and how they rose to the challenges that Covid posed.

This came in a year where the Queen made an extraordinary public address to the nation during the height of the pandemic’s first wave.

The monarch was widely praised for the leadership she showed when she drew upon the words of Dame Vera Lynn to rouse the isolated nations: ‘We’ll meet again’.

The speech was the most-watched television event of the Christmas period, indicating that a Covid-weary Britain was looking to the head of state for strength.