While the Royal Christmas Broadcast is a Christmas Day staple for many people now that it approaches its hundredth anniversary, at one point it was still very new. The first Monarch to speak was King George V, starting in 1932.

King George V had had to be convinced to give that first broadcast. However, by 1935 he had become somewhat comfortable with the technologically advanced holiday tradition. 

The year 1935 marked a notable tie for George and for the United Kingdom. Not only did he celebrate his Silver Jubilee, it was the first time such a Jubilee had been celebrated in the UK. 

In his Christmas Day speech, he noted that ”The year that is passing — the twenty-fifth since my Accession — has been to me most memorable. It called forth a spontaneous offering of loyalty — and may I say of love — which the Queen and I can never forget.”

He also sought to offer reassurance at a time when Europe was facing more and more economic and social pressures. King George V said ”In Europe and many parts of the world anxieties surround us… May the spirit of good will and mutual helpfulness grow and spread. Then it will bring not only the blessing of peace but a solution of the economic troubles which still best us.”