Search for "Queen" on YouTube, and you'll find more than "Bohemian Rhapsody." The Christmas message from Britain's long-serving monarch will be available on the The Royal Channel, the monarchy's official home on the video site. As the Sunday Times reports: "The Queen is to place this year's Christmas message on YouTube to compete with clips of skateboarders and somersaulting dogs."
The minisite also serves up vintage clips, including the first televised royal Christmas communication, from 1957, in which Her Majesty said some prescient things about the (then)
new technology.
"Twenty-five years ago my grandfather broadcast the first of these Christmas messages. Today is another landmark because television has made it possible for many of you to see me in your homes on Christmas Day. My own family often gather round to watch television as they are this moment, and that is how I imagine you now.
"I very much hope that this new medium will make my Christmas message more personal and direct."
You can read the full transcripts of the Queen's Christmas broadcasts to the Commonwealth online. This year's Christmas Day speech will be broadcast on YouTube (and on TV and radio) at 3 p.m. GMT.
(Image courtesy of British Monarchy Media Centre)
