Queen Elizabeth's Warning 65 Years Ago in First Televised Christmas Broadcast Still Rings True

The death of 👑Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday brought to an end a reign that reached back from our digital age, back across decades of stunning transformation, into a time that few today would even recognize.

It goes without saying that much changed during her 70 years on the throne. But, of course, some things stayed the same, including Elizabeth herself.

In 1957, five years after becoming queen, she reminded her subjects of what must always stay the same — and what would happen if it did not. In 2022, we would do well to look back and be reminded.

The queen’s Christmas address that year was televised for the first time. It was, as she noted, a technological advancement that could give her a more “personal and direct” connection with the British people. But how quickly advancement becomes upheaval! How easily change leads to confusion!

Through a medium that marked a new and shifting world, Elizabeth encouraged her listeners to build on an old and solid foundation.

“That it’s possible for some of you to see me today is just another example of the speed at which things are changing all around us,” she said.

“Because of these changes, I’m not surprised that many people feel lost and unable to decide what to hold on to and what to discard, how to take advantage of the new life without losing the best of the old.

“But it is not the new inventions which are the difficulty,” she said. “The trouble is caused by unthinking people who carelessly throw away ageless ideals as if they were old and outworn machinery.