![]() ![]() Last October I opened the new Canadian Parliament, and as you know this was the first time that any Sovereign had done so in Ottawa. This advance is a wonderful tribute to the efforts of men of goodwill who have worked together as friends, and I welcome these two countries with all my heart. Both achieved their new status amicably and peacefully. Both these countries are now entirely self-governing. This year Ghana and Malaya joined our brotherhood. That is why we can take a pride in the new Commonwealth we are building. ![]() To build and to cherish is much more difficult. It has always been easy to hate and destroy. 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. 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. 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.Īt 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. The trouble is caused by unthinking people who carelessly throw away ageless ideals as if they were old and outworn machinery. How to take advantage of the new life without losing the best of the old.īut it is not the new inventions which are the difficulty. Because of these changes I am not surprised that many people feel lost and unable to decide what to hold on to and what to discard. That it is possible for some of you to see me today is just another example of the speed at which things are changing all around us. But now at least for a few minutes I welcome you to the peace of my own home. A successor to the Kings and Queens of history someone whose face may be familiar in newspapers and films but who never really touches your personal lives. It is inevitable that I should seem a rather remote figure to many of you. I very much hope that this new medium will make my Christmas message more personal and direct. My own family often gather round to watch television as they are this moment, and that is how I imagine you now. Today is another landmark because television has made it possible for many of you to see me in your homes on Christmas Day. Twenty-five years ago my grandfather broadcast the first of these Christmas messages. The broadcast was made live from the Long Library at Sandringham, Norfolk. It was also the 25th anniversary of the first Christmas Broadcast on the radio. The Queen's 1957 Christmas Broadcast was an historic event, as it was the first to be televised.
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