King Charles III will break with tradition and deliver his Christmas speech from a former hospital chapel, Buckingham Palace announced Monday. This change in venue comes as the UK monarch continues treatment for cancer diagnosed earlier this year.
The pre-recorded message will be broadcast on Christmas Day at 3pm GMT on Sky News. This year marks the first time that the annual address won’t be delivered from a royal residence since 2006. That year, Queen Elizabeth II spoke from Southwark Cathedral.
The chosen location, the Fitzrovia Chapel in central London, served as part of Middlesex Hospital for nearly a century. Buckingham Palace described the chapel as “a place of solace, prayer and rest for staff and patients.” In a statement on Cancer Support’s ‘Can You See Me?’ project and will be placed in the Royal Trinity Hospice, Clapham, the oldest hospice in the United Kingdom.”
The actual message remains confidential until its transmission, but according to a palace insider quoted by Reuters, it will address various difficulties at international, national and personal challenges levels, whilst emphasizing how societal unity and mutual assistance can help overcome it.
Charles’s Christmas speech comes after a year of medical challenges for the royal family. Princess Catherine, his daughter-in-law, also underwent cancer treatment, completing chemotherapy in September. The King’s treatment for unspecified form of cancer is expected to continue into 2025, although he has gradually returned to public duties.
This year’s message, recorded earlier in December, takes place in the elaborate Grade II listed chapel, featuring more than 500 stars in its gold-leaf ceiling and approximately 40 varieties of marble.
