George VI of the United Kingdom

“ And now it only remains for me to echo those words which so may of you will already have said to each other today – words, which never lose their significance for old or young, and which, in good times or in bad, still bring a message of cheer to all of us; may your Christmas be happy, and may the coming year bring you a full measure of peace and prosperity, and may God bless you all. ”

“ They have shown me that kingship is no isolated, impersonal function, no abstract symbol of constitutional theory; they have shown me that it is, rather, one pole of a very real human relationship, depending on ties that are invisible, and unaffected by changes in internal form. ”

“ I am happy to say that my experiences in this year have left me with a feeling of great thankfulness for these proofs that an immense wealth of human kindness still survives in this modern world which sometimes seems almost starved of the peace and goodwill for which we specially look at Christmastide. ”