Sometimes a lot comes your way that takes your breath away. Especially for a royalist like me.
This year will see the fourth Christmas speech by Charles III.
Our beloved new king has some way to go before he catches up with his mother Queen Elizabeth who presented a staggering 64 televised December addresses.
If you remember the first one in 1957 you might recall how important it was and how vital it was that the Queen hit the right notes to connect with the nation.
To do so she turned to the help of a very special woman.
BBC announcer Sylvia Peters, who died in 2016 aged 90, broadcast the 1953 coronation live to an estimated global audience of 227 million.
Her annotated eight-page script, with instructions on dealing with any “untoward incidents” or “network breakdowns”, is part of the archive we are privileged to be selling this Thursday <Dec 11>.
Four years later the Palace called on Sylvia, by then a household name, to tutor the Queen on her critical first televised broadcast.
The stakes were high. Delivering a successful speech, which since the days of George V had been on the radio, was vital.
At the time, the monarchy was seen as being increasingly out of touch. The royal marriage was thought to be in jeopardy, and after the Suez crisis, the monarchy was seen part of the unpopular elite.
According to Sylvia’s daughter, Carmella, who consigned the archive, Sylvia offered the Queen five options for the speech’s delivery.
The options were: from memory, from notes, using an autocue, combining notes and an autocue, or reading it in its entirety.
She chose notes and an autocue, sitting beside an oak desk surrounded by Christmas cards and photos of nine-year-old Prince Charles and seven-year-old Princess Anne.
The Queen began her seven-minute speech with the words: “It is inevitable that I should seem a rather remote figure to you . . . but now, at least for a few minutes, I welcome you to the peace of my home.”
Having embraced a new warm and personal tone, at tutored by Sylvia, the following day the papers were full of praise with the headline in the Daily Sketch saying: “The Queen knocks those critics cold!”
The speech silenced the critics, marking a triumph for both the Queen and her mentor, with some historians even saying it saved the monarchy.
Like the Queen, Sylvia epitomised the elegance and glamour of the era.
The daughter of a clock-making Italian father and ballet-loving English mother, she was born in Highgate, north London in 1925.
Having started out as a musical actress she joined the BBC in 1947 after answering a newspaper advertisement for an announcer, with a salary of £500 a year.
At the job interview she was tested on her pronunciation having to repeat sibilant phrases like Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra – as well as ability to speak French, Italian and German.
Once hired, immaculate grooming was essential and, like other female announcers, she was banned from wearing striped or checked dresses which could make the picture strobe.
In 1954 she presented BBC’s Come Dancing before retiring as an announcer in 1958, returning to present occasional programmes such as Ladies’ Day at Ascot.
What an amazing woman she was and what a privilege it is to play a small in her history and that of the nation.
Auction Details
Auction: The Derbyshire Two-Day Christmas Auction of Fine Jewels, Decorative Arts, Antiques & Sporting Memorabilia
Auction date: 11th – 12th December 2025 | 9:30am
Location: Hansons’ Derbyshire Saleroom
Auction contact: [email protected]
Catalogue/bidding: www.hansonslive.co.uk | www.the-saleroom.com
