To think that people under 50 don’t watch the king’s speech on Christmas Day?

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Just that really. I’ve never watched it because I grew up in a household that wasn’t royalist. I don’t know any friends who make time to watch it. The only person I know who does watch it is my 82-year-old MiL.
So do you watch it? Are you under 50?

I'm 70 and have never watched it.

Do people over 50 watch it?

I'm in my 60s and I've never watched it. When i was a kid we had a No TV rule on Christmas day and I continued that with my own children

I do think that MN is reflective of the real world. 5.9 is not particularly high compared to the viewing population. . It was 10.9 in 2022. (an outlier due to the queens death). Viewing figures have steadily decreased. I also suspect that it's usually background rather than active viewing.

My mum used to watch it religiously though she's not bothered by Charles.

Im over 50. Indeed I am over 60. I have never watched the Queens/Kings speech on Christmas Day. My DM is 84 and never watches it either because she is usually at my dinner table eating her Christmas lunch.

I thought Colin Firth was not on tv on Christmas Day- have I missed something??

Always. Pretty much the norm here.

My mum always used to make us stand for the anthem.

In France, the President gives an equivalent address on New Year's Eve. France has a whole massive hang up about any whiff of religion in public life, so there's no way they'd do it on Christmas.

@Fink do most people watch it?

MN is most definitely not a barometer for the wider UK! Any thread about Brexit (very few here admit to voting for it), general elections (almost noone voting for anything right of centre), parking on pavements (NO-ONE here ever does it...) will show you that.
And on this thread, almost everyone is saying they don't/have never watched the King, but the data clearly shows that people do.

It's Confirmation Bias at play. The thread title refers to people not watching it, so posters pile on to agree. Thread titles determine a lot about the direction a thread will take.

Our household ranges from 87 to 3. None of us have ever watched that rubbish

@Swivelhead how do you know it's "rubbish" if no one has ever watched it 🤔

No. Not since my grandparents passed away has it been on at our house...my parents aren't interested too and they in their 80s.

Out of touch billionaire who feels they were appointed by God to sprinkle pompous platitudes and breadcrumbs of comfort to the destitute rabble?

A good guess.

I'd rather eat my own shit than look at any of their smug faces

Viewing figures are generally around the 12 million mark. The population is pretty much exactly the same size as the UK, so you're looking at about 17% who watch the broadcast. I don't have any official breakdown of the demographics, but it seems to be more popular with older generations.

"And on this thread, almost everyone is saying they don't/have never watched the King, but the data clearly shows that people do."

As I have said 5.9 million isn't a huge amount of people. Most people are apathetic, some are ardent republicans, some are are Royalist/traditionalists. There is a mix on this thread. But the fact is, is that the speech is losing viewing figures year by year. The Royals are losing support of the public. https://natcen.ac.uk/news/british-social-attitudes-support-monarchy-falls-new-low

It'll be interesting to see what the figures are this year.

Over 50. Never watched it.

The people I know that do watch it every year without fall are in their late 30's and mid 40's. (Two different colleagues)

As I have said 5.9 million isn't a huge amount of people. Most people are apathetic, some are ardent republicans, some are are Royalist/traditionalists. There is a mix on this thread. But the fact is, is that the speech is losing viewing figures year by year. The Royals are losing support of the public.

I honestly think it’s more that TV viewing figures are falling across the board. I’m not saying this means public opinion of the Royal Family isn’t changing, but a drop in viewing figures for the King’s Speech is way too isolated a statistic to draw that conclusion, especially in a landscape where terrestrial TV viewing figures are in permanent decline.

To go back to the OP’s point about whether it’s mainly an older demographic who still watches, it’s also more likely to be the older generation who are still watching terrestrial TV live in general.

I’m well over 50 and hardly ever watched The Queen, but do sometimes wish I’d watched her very last.

I’m reminded of a 🎄 episode of After Henry (does anyone else remember it?) where the elderly mother (Prunella Scales played the daughter) insisted that they must have the Christmas Dinner all cleared away before the Queen’s Speech, because it was disrespectful to listen to her with all the debris on the table! 😂
She was horrified to be told that it wasn’t live, it had been recorded some time previously!

Yes @GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER, I loved After Henry and remember that episode! They get around it by listening to it on the radio (the radio broadcast is earlier) - and Eleanor can’t object, because she’s been battling about tradition, and the radio broadcast is where the tradition began 😁

Fair point about viewing figures falling across the board but there is no doubt that popularity of the Royals is at a low. The older generation are the ones who tend to watch it.

I've always watched it (including when I was living abroad and it was broadcast but at a completely different time of day).

It punctuates the day - we have stocking presents in the morning, huge lunch then board games until 3pm. The Speech. Then opening tree presents, then ringing round family and messaging friends, before sinking into a Quality Street induced semi-coma on the sofa

@SpiggingBelgium I agree that the younger generation don't tend to watch it because as you said people just don't watch live TV.
I was saying upthread about the typical Christmas Day TV schedule of my childhood (1980s) and out of curiosity I googled the schedules.
BBC1 was pretty much -
2pm Top of the Pops
3pm The Queen
3.10pm Big Film or special episode of popular programme.
So many families would have watched The Queen simply because she was on in the middle of programmes families were sitting down to watch.

My ex and I used to bet on how many times the Queen would mention the Commonwealth.

We do watch, only out of the novelty of "OMG, we live in the UK!" (Originally from abroad)

The novelty has defo worn off for me after 14 years. And I find Charles' speeches much less endearing than Liz's.