Throughout the 65-year-reign of the United Kingdom's Queen Elizabeth II, her annual Christmas Day broadcast in recent years has focused less on her dedication to a life of service and has become more a declaration of her Christian faith.
For many of those years, the message spoke "only in passing of the religious significance of Christmas," Catherine Pepinster wrote in a commentary in The Guardian on Sunday.
"There have been references to presents linking contemporary Christmas to the Three Wise Men, for instance, alongside trips to Commonwealth countries, family events such as weddings and funerals, and there were observations about contemporary society," Pepinster explained, adding the tone had changed over the past two decades.
"For the past 17 years, her messages have taken on a different tone, with the Queen explaining her own personal faith – 'the anchor in my life,' as she described it in 2014," Pepinster added.
The turning point for the change in tone, according to the article, was the millennium broadcast which she devoted to Christ's life, explaining it provided her "a framework in which I try to lead my life."
The explanation for the change in tone varies among royal-watchers, with reasons including the influence of former archbishop of Canterbury George Carey or her husband Prince Philip, the death of the Queen Mother or even because the more recent messages draw 25 times the letters of public response than the earlier ones.
The tradition began in 1932 as radio broadcasts and became televised in 1957. They have been recorded at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Sandringham in Norfolk.
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