Ron
12-25-2006, 04:16 PM
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061223/wl_uk_afp/britainroyalsqueencommonwealth
Queen too shy to watch her Christmas speech with royals Sat Dec 23, 5:00 AM ET
LONDON (AFP) - The Queen is too shy to watch her Christmas Day broadcast to the Commonwealth with the rest of the royal family, according to reports.
The Daily Express, citing royal sources, said the stoical 80-year-old monarch cannot bear to watch her pre-recorded traditional festive message with her relatives.
The royal family traditionally gather for Christmas at Sandringham, the queen's private estate in Norfolk, where she is based throughout the winter.
The queen's Christmas speech is a rare personal and often spiritual message to her subjects and other Commonwealth citizens across the globe.
"The family all watch it at some point or other, whether live or on a recording, but she can't bear to be in the same room as them when it's on," a royal insider told the newspaper Saturday.
"She has had a lifetime of being at the centre of attention every time she walks into a room, and never puts a foot wrong when she is in public.
"She has a lovely dry wit but for some reason she gets quite self-conscious about this broadcast when she is with her family and prefers to go into a seperate room and watch it on her own."
A Yuletide institution, the 10-minute broadcast is televised on December 25 at 3:00 pm, as many families are recovering from their traditional turkey lunch.
It is broadcast at convenient local times across the 53-nation Commonwealth, a successor to the British Empire which encompasses around a third of the world's countries and a quarter of the world's population.
The Christmas message is to be available as a podcast for the first time.
This year's broadcast was taped at the historic Southwark Cathedral in central London.
In it, the queen says: "The wisdom and experience of the great religions point to the need to nurture and guide the young, and to encourage respect for the elderly."
Meanwhile the Daily Express said that Sarah, Duchess of York, the ex-wife of her second son Prince Andrew, will not be present at Sandringham this year.
The pair are still close and co-operate over the upbringing of their children, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.
Previously, Sarah has stayed at a farm on the estate, while Andrew and their children were in the main house.
But she is no longer prepared to accept the humiliation of being banished, and will spend Christmas with her mother instead before spending New Year with her daughters, the newspaper said.
Queen too shy to watch her Christmas speech with royals Sat Dec 23, 5:00 AM ET
LONDON (AFP) - The Queen is too shy to watch her Christmas Day broadcast to the Commonwealth with the rest of the royal family, according to reports.
The Daily Express, citing royal sources, said the stoical 80-year-old monarch cannot bear to watch her pre-recorded traditional festive message with her relatives.
The royal family traditionally gather for Christmas at Sandringham, the queen's private estate in Norfolk, where she is based throughout the winter.
The queen's Christmas speech is a rare personal and often spiritual message to her subjects and other Commonwealth citizens across the globe.
"The family all watch it at some point or other, whether live or on a recording, but she can't bear to be in the same room as them when it's on," a royal insider told the newspaper Saturday.
"She has had a lifetime of being at the centre of attention every time she walks into a room, and never puts a foot wrong when she is in public.
"She has a lovely dry wit but for some reason she gets quite self-conscious about this broadcast when she is with her family and prefers to go into a seperate room and watch it on her own."
A Yuletide institution, the 10-minute broadcast is televised on December 25 at 3:00 pm, as many families are recovering from their traditional turkey lunch.
It is broadcast at convenient local times across the 53-nation Commonwealth, a successor to the British Empire which encompasses around a third of the world's countries and a quarter of the world's population.
The Christmas message is to be available as a podcast for the first time.
This year's broadcast was taped at the historic Southwark Cathedral in central London.
In it, the queen says: "The wisdom and experience of the great religions point to the need to nurture and guide the young, and to encourage respect for the elderly."
Meanwhile the Daily Express said that Sarah, Duchess of York, the ex-wife of her second son Prince Andrew, will not be present at Sandringham this year.
The pair are still close and co-operate over the upbringing of their children, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.
Previously, Sarah has stayed at a farm on the estate, while Andrew and their children were in the main house.
But she is no longer prepared to accept the humiliation of being banished, and will spend Christmas with her mother instead before spending New Year with her daughters, the newspaper said.