"The Subtle Corruption of the Cynics"

Elizabeth in 1957, at 31, during her Christmas address, the first time the traditional message was televised.

THE MONARCHY MEETS YOUTUBE. Featuring the 1957 Christmas Broadcast, footage from the Queen Mother's Wedding in 1923 and the 1953 Coronation. While media reports have emphasized the historic significance of the 1957 broadcast, the first to be made on television, its most striking aspect is the text itself. Her Majesty's Christmas addresses have sometimes been criticized as overly cautious, meditations on unquestioned truisms. This is too harsh. Being Head of State her comments must carry their message in a subtle and non-political way; their relevance being in no way diminished by this necessity. Below are some choice passages from the address:

But it is not the new inventions which are the difficulty. The trouble is caused by unthinking people who carelessly throw away ageless ideals as if they were old and outworn machinery. They would have religion thrown aside, morality in personal and public life made meaningless, honesty counted as foolishness and self-interest set up in place of self-restraint.

At this critical moment in our history we will certainly lose the trust and respect of the world if we just abandon those fundamental principles which guided the men and women who built the greatness of this country and Commonwealth.

Today we need a special kind of courage, not the kind needed in battle but a kind which makes us stand up for everything that we know is right, everything that is true and honest. We need the kind of courage that can withstand the subtle corruption of the cynics so that we can show the world that we are not afraid of the future.

It has always been easy to hate and destroy. To build and to cherish is much more difficult. That is why we can take a pride in the new Commonwealth we are building.