Elizabeth II to pay tribute to Team GB athletes for 'splendid summer of sport' during new-dimension yuletide staple
The Queen has enjoyed the full effect of her annual Christmas message, which will take on an extra dimension this year. Wearing 3D glasses, she watched part of the footage, to be broadcast on Christmas Day, as the final touches were made to the yuletide staple.
But these were no ordinary glasses: her spectacles have been adorned with Swarovski crystals forming a letter Q on each side, a pair she first wore during a visit to a movie training centre in Toronto, Canada, in 2010.
This year, her message, which she writes herself, will highlight the "splendid summer of sport", and pay tribute to the nation's Olympic and Paralympic athletes, who gave spectators the chance to revel in the "excitement and drama".
During the address, broadcast in full at 3pm on Christmas Day, the Queen will say: "As London hosted a splendid summer of sport, all those who saw the achievement and courage at the Olympic and Paralympic Games were further inspired by the skill, dedication, training and teamwork of our athletes. In pursuing their own sporting goals, they gave the rest of us the opportunity to share something of the excitement and drama."
The broadcast will be on radio and television, with the special effect available to those with 3D TV capability.
The Queen's first Christmas speech was broadcast on radio in 1952; her first televised message was in 1957.
To celebrate how far technology has advanced during her reign, and to mark her diamond jubilee, palace officials suggested she try 3D. A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: "We wanted to do something a bit different and special in this jubilee year, so doing it for the first time in 3D seemed a good thing, technology-wise, to do. The Queen absolutely agreed straight away – there was no need for convincing at all – she was absolutely ready to embrace something new this year."
The Queen, who had her own starring role in a James Bond sketch during the Olympic opening ceremony, usually draws inspiration for her Christmas speech from her experiences throughout the year.
The spokeswoman said the monarch had watched the 3D footage, which had been filmed in Buckingham Palace's white drawing room, and thought it "absolutely lovely".
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Guardian