It is the function of the succession council to officially designate the new sovereign of the United Kingdom. This Saturday, for the first time, this solemn act, as well as the speech delivered by King Carlos III, were broadcast live on television.
This evolution mirrors that of the media, which has been transformed since 1952, the date of the previous proclamation, that of Queen Elizabeth II. But it is also witness to the evolution of the British monarchy, which has been seeking to get closer to the people and modernize for almost a century.
The media and the royal family, two parallel developments
King George V had already marked a first technological evolution of the British monarchy. In 1924, he spoke on the radio for the opening of the British Empire Exhibition, a historic first. In 1932 he gave a Christmas speech on the radio, since then it has become a tradition. In addition to the speech problems of his son George VI, the film The speech of a kingproduced in 2010 by Tom Hopper, it also shows the importance of this means of communication for British royalty in the 20th century.
But it is above all Queen Elizabeth II who has profoundly embodied this change. Her 70-year reign saw the democratization of television and her advent as a political communication channel.
His coronation, on June 2, 1953, was the first to be broadcast on television. In fact, it was the first widely watched live event in the world. Counting deferred and reruns in the cinema, an article from the Figaro estimates that 277 million people were able to attend this six-hour ceremony.
Elizabeth II, queen of the screens?
Despite the British tabloid’s appetite for scandals within the Royal Family, appearances by the Queen herself were rare during her reign. And what is rare is precious. Apart from the Christmas messages, Elizabeth II made only five official speeches on television: during the first Gulf War (1991), after the death of Lady Diana (1997), after her mother’s (2002), during her jubilee in 2012, and finally in April 2020, in the midst of a pandemic linked to Covid-19. All moments of national unity.
While the already ill Queen had not made an official speech for her Platinum Jubilee in June 2022, the event was widely broadcast around the world. The last decade of Isabel II was also marked by the explosion of the series. The Crown, which narrates her reign, is among the biggest hits on the Netflix platform.
What kind of relationship will King Carlos III have with the media? Prince himself stepped into this field, creating a television channel dedicated to ecology, called Re:TV. This is perhaps the niche of social networks that Carlos III will have to occupy, to recover his image of being unwanted.
Source: BFM TV
