The Queen gets it right — as usual

Christmas would not be Christmas without the royal broadcast to the nation. As has become customary, the Queen’s message has been flagged in advance by the Palace. It is a characteristic mixture: for the Royal Family, as for the nation, 2019 has been the best of times and the worst of times. Yet this year has ended much better than it began.

One should not read too much into what is meant to be a post-prandial message of good cheer, but there is no mistaking the royal art of understatement in these words: “The path, of course, is not always smooth, and may at times this year have felt quite bumpy; but small steps can make a difference.” 

In truth, this has been a very difficult year for the Queen personally. Two younger sons, Andrew and Harry, have attracted some of the wrong sort of attention; they are notable by their absence from her lineup of family photographs. And her beloved husband, Philip, started the year with a car accident that, though minor, ended his driving career of nearly eight decades. He has just had a few days in hospital, though we must trust Charles when he says that his father is “all right”. Prayers and toasts for the Queen this year should, of course, include her consort.

But the Queen’s message would not be the Queen’s without an upbeat aspect too. She recalls the 75th anniversary D-Day commemoration with the authority of one who was not only a young adult who had just turned 18 on June 6, 1944, but was playing an active role in uniform as a driver and mechanic in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. 

Her words about the postwar reconciliation of “sworn enemies” can, however, also be read as a reference to present divisions over Brexit: “By being willing to put past differences behind us and move forward together we honour the freedom and democracy once won for us at so great a cost.” We can take it that Her Majesty has no time for bad losers. 

We can only speculate about how the Queen, whose reign began when Churchill was still Prime Minister, feels about Downing Street’s present incumbent. Like Churchill, about whom he has written a biography that is also revealing about his own ambitions, Boris Johnson certainly knows how to defy conventional wisdom. His own Christmas message reminds us about persecuted Christians: “As Prime Minister, that’s something I want to change. We stand with Christians everywhere, in solidarity, and will defend your right to practise your faith.” A Prime Minister who mentions Christians at Christmas? Whatever next? He might even mean what he says about standing up for what is now the most widely persecuted faith in the world.

Yet Boris Johnson also had warm and reassuring words for British Jews in his Hanukkah message this week. He unashamedly celebrated the Jewish triumph over their enemies, which the festival commemorates, and drew parallels with the present-day threat of anti-Semitism. After a year in which the world looked askance at Britain while it still seemed possible that we might elect an anti-Semitic party, the Prime Minister struck exactly the right note, not only for the Jewish community, but for the rest of the voters who decisively rejected the politics of hatred. As for Jeremy Corbyn’s Hanukkah video: the less said about this exercise in chutzpah, the better.

Christmas Day has been more than usually fraught with potential conflict since the 2016 referendum. And so Boris will also have found an echo with the jovial coda to his message: “Try not to have too many arguments with the in-laws, or anyone else.” Some will feel that he should accept some of the blame for those arguments. But he is surely right that this is a time for peace and goodwill, not for bitterness and strife.

At long last, Britain is ready to move on next year. As the Queen says, faith and hope “can overcome long-held differences and deep-seated divisions to bring harmony and understanding”. At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of a little child. For Christ’s sake, if not for our own, let our 2020 vision be a happy and glorious one. And God save the Queen.