Having been born and bred in Great Britain, and being something of a patriot, I would not have missed our late Queen’s Christmas broadcast at 3.00 p.m. on Christmas afternoon for all the world. I like the feeling of being united with the nation, the Commonwealth, and our British troops abroad. I was always impressed by our monarch’s gravitas and anticipated eagerly what Her Majesty had to say.
This year (2022), however, will be something of a first, in that it will be given by King Charles III. Charles has gone on record as saying that he would rather be the ‘Defender of Faiths’ as opposed to ‘Defender of the Faith’, as seen on our coins (the ‘FD’ stands for the Latin term, Fidei Defensor – Defender of the Faith).
Whether this will transpire remains to be seen, but from our late Queen’s Christmas messages, it is evident that she identified with the Christian faith: ‘Beliefs are of fundamental importance. For me, the teachings of Christ and my own personal accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to lead my life’ (Christmas 2000).
