Amazon has announced that Her Majesty The Queen’s Christmas Day Message will be made available to Alexa owners for the first time ever.
Beginning with a radio broadcast that was by George V in 1932, the monarchy’s annual Christmas Day tradition continues in digital form this year to those owners who say: “Alexa, Play the Queen’s Christmas Day Message” or “Alexa, Play Queen Elizabeth’s Christmas Day Message” beginning at 10am EST.
In Canada, the speech will be available to those with Echo, Echo Plus, Echo Dot, Echo Show, Fire TV Cube, and Fire TV Stick Amazon Alexa Devices.
“After a challenging year, millions of people from across the Commonwealth will be eagerly awaiting Her Majesty the Queen’s message on Christmas Day,” said Eric King, Director of Alexa Europe. “By creating this world-first innovation, just as we did in 2012 with the release of The Queen’s Christmas Speech on Kindle, we hope that even more people will be able to enjoy the uplifting words of Her Majesty. This really is one for the history books and showcases just how far technology has advanced since the very first speech was delivered back in 1932.”
Queen Elizabeth made her first Christmas radio broadcast live in 1952, the same year as her accession, and for the first time on television in 1957 when Her Majesty said she hoped “this new medium will make my Christmas message more personal and more direct”. The speech was made available via Kindle in 2012 along with 59 previous Christmas messages.
Photo: Ajay Suresh (cc)
