The Queen's Speeches

British Crown

Queen Elizabeth II meets Web 2.0. A nice symmetry, and a great treat for Boxing Day.

The Queen’s 2006 Christmas message is available as a podcast. I find this turn of events uncanny. I am also struck (deliberately vague word) by the British Monarchy website, which I had not visited before. I’ll be exploring. (Note to other explorers: don’t miss the Royal Diary.)

To get the Royal Podcast, I subscribed via iTunes (one-click simplicity, for which I thank Her Majesty’s Web Chamberlains). Looking in iTunes for the Christmas message, I found that the Chamberlains had thoughtfully provided another podcast: the Queen’s 80th birthday speech.

Calling it “The Royal Podcast,” as the web site does, brings a smile: the term sounds a little like “The Holy Hand Grenade” (of Antioch, if I recall correctly). But I don’t mean to be churlish. I welcome Her Majesty (a pretty nice girl, though she doesn’t have a lot to say) to my portable media device, and hope she will find herself at home there with IT Conversations, poetry, Phil Keaggy, and the Firesign Theatre.

2 thoughts on “The Queen's Speeches

  1. Gardner,

    This is great, though I couldn’t help hearing Angus Hudson saying, “I have never approved of the Hanoverian Succession.”

  2. As they say in the biz, LOL.

    Also, though it sounds odd to say it, I found I was moved when I listened to the podcast. Anglophilia run amok? I don’t know. But moving it was.

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