Prince Charles

King Charles III furious after Sky News Australia leaks his first Christmas broadcast TEN hours early

King Charles

A photo of King Charles III has been released as he recorded his first-ever Christmas message, in which he paid tribute to the Queen.


The message, which was recorded on 13 December and said to be broadcast on Christmas Day before getting leaked.



The broadcast was poignantly filmed inside St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, where the Queen was laid to rest. There was anger on Christmas morning after King Charles III’s Christmas broadcast was leaked online ten hours before it was due to air in the United Kingdom.

His Majesty’s address is aired across the Commonwealth, with countries in the South Pacific and Australasia showing the message many hours before the UK due to the time difference.

Also read: Prince William on the ‘lifelong habit’ he learned from Diana and Prince Charles.



However, Commonwealth broadcasters agree not to replay or upload the footage online until 15:10 GMT. As usual, Australian broadcasters aired the sovereign’s Christmas address just after 3 pm local time.

However, Sky News Australia also published the eight-minute speech on YouTube at 5:15 am UK time, breaking strict protocol. PS: The video posted below is not a Christmas speech 🙂

For more royal family updates: follow The Royal UK on Instagram

Broadcasters are under an agreement with Buckingham Palace and BBC Studios that footage of The King’s speech must not be uploaded to the internet before 15:10 GMT. Likewise, broadcasters may not stream the footage online, or over mobile apps.



For radio stations, the speech can only be aired live on FM or AM, with digital stations airing eight minutes of silence to avoid leaks to the rest of the world.

There was anger in the YouTube comments section, with people asking why the footage had been uploaded. In only three hours, the video was watched by over 60,000 people.

Also read: 5 times Meghan & Charles showed that they share the best Father Daughter-in-law relationship.



30 years ago in 1992, The Sun newspaper leaked Queen Elizabeth II’s Christmas broadcast two whole days before it was due to air. This led to a significant clampdown on the speech being made available to the press in advance, with Buckingham Palace describing the 1992 leak as ‘” very regrettable”. 

If you liked the article, kindly share it with your friends, groups and family members. 🙂