There was anger on Christmas morning after The King’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.
However, Commonwealth broadcasters agree not to replay the footage or upload it online until 15:10 GMT.
As per usual, Australian broadcasters aired the sovereign’s Christmas address just after 3pm local time.
However, Sky News Australia also published the eight minute speech to YouTube at 5:15am UK time, breaking strict protocol.
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.
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 major clampdown on the speech being made available to the press in advance, with Buckingham Palace describing the 1992 leak as ‘”very regrettable”.
