Praise For The Queen's Television Broadcast

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28471, 28 December 1957, Page 9

Praise For The Queen 's Television Broadcast

(Rec. 9 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 27. The belief that Queen Elizabeth had forged a deeper link between herself and the people in her Christmas Day television broadcast, dominated this morning’s British newspapers. Headlines and reports emphasised the sincerity and warmth of her manner and speech. Under the headline “She Heeded The Critics,” the “Daily Herald” report said: “Simple, direct and human, she was all that the Royal critics had called for . . . gone was the stiffness and she spoke with a sincerity that affected many viewers.”

Headlines in the “Daily Sketch” said: “The Queen Knocks Those Critics Cold—She Has Become A TV Star.” An editorial in the “Yorkshire Post” commented: “It is not merely the pleasant, easy way m Which the Queen smiled and spoke that will be remembered. This Christmas Day message was memorable also for the conviction with which this young Queen of ours spoke her own faith in the Power of simple goodness, of fruth and kindliness and upright sealing, to triumph. The “News Chronicle” said in |n editorial that “the Queen’s message on TV. was a personal •uccess. It was also, in part, a Vindication of the more respon-

sible criticisms made against the Queen’s advisers during the last year. “Behind them lay a genuine public suspicion that the Palace was getting more and more remote from the people in an age when there is less and less excuse for being so. It looks as if some of the cobwebs are now being; brushed- away. The Palace—not the Queen —needed a jolt. “She presented herself and her role with greater frankness and clarity than ever before, and. indeed, than any British Monarch has ever chosen to do,” the “Daily Mail” said. “For her part, is

clear that the Queen can now put herself into the minds and hearts of her people more intimately than ever before.” A report in the “News Chronicle” said that “one secret of the broadcast’s success was a 45-minute script conference the Queen held with the British Broadcasting Corporation producer, Anthony Craxton—a former schoolfellow of .the Duke of Edinburgh—last week. He went through the script with her, phrase by phrase.” A writer in the “Daily Express” complained of the 8.8. C. production of the Queen’s message, but added: “So strong and fine is her personality that she triumphed over it all. She was wonderful.”