Launch of a Royal YouTube Channel

THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT IS ISSUED BY THE PRESS SECRETARY TO THE QUEEN

The Royal Household has launched a Royal Channel on the popular video sharing website "YouTube" (www.youtube.com/theroyalchannel). The channel which goes live on Sunday, the 23rd December at 0001, will showcase both archive and modern video of The Queen and other Members of the Royal Family and Royal events. New footage will be regularly added.

At launch, the channel will display the first televised Christmas Broadcast of 1957 as its main video. The access to this restricted footage has been granted to mark the 50th anniversary this year of the first televised Christmas Broadcast.

The Royal Channel on YouTube will also show The Queen's 2007 Christmas Broadcast for the first time from approximately 3pm GMT on the 25th December - Christmas Day; the same time as the traditional broadcast on television.

Additional footage on the channel includes rarely seen films from the British Film Institute (BFI), which are detailed below.

The first televised Christmas Broadcast, Sandringham House, 1957:

This footage is particularly relevant given the fact that it is the 50th anniversary of the Christmas Broadcast. It also makes reference to technological advances: "I very much hope that this new medium will make my Christmas message more personal and direct. That it is possible for some of you to see me today is just another example of the speed at which things are changing all around us."

Read a full transcript of the broadcast.

Lord John Wakehurst's film: Long to Reign Over Us (edited into three short films):

*This footage has never been publicly released.

Lord Wakehurst (1895-1970) Conservative MP, Governor of New South Wales, Governor of Northern Ireland and Lord Prior of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, was also a keen amateur film maker. The films contain voiceover by Lord Wakehurst himself and chart events from the death of King George VI to The Queen's Accession and Coronation. The footage is all in colour, and much of the story is told from the public's perspective, showing crowds gathering to mourn the King's death, and then, the following year, holding street parties and camping out on The Mall to catch a glimpse of The Queen on Coronation Day.

Roses for the Rose Queen, 1917:

Newsreel footage featuring Queen Alexandra's West End tour among the rose-sellers.

The Royal Wedding, 1923 - rarely seen footage:

Newsreel of the wedding of The Duke of York and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.

Existing footage currently being shown on the Royal websites www.royal.gov.uk and www.princeofwales.gov.uk :

Short films on: Garden Parties, State Visits, The Queen and Prime Ministers, Investitures and The Prince of Wales' visit to the Robert Clack School.