King Charles switched Christmas speech to hospital chapel after becoming ‘enchanted’ with venue

KING Charles will deliver his Christmas Day address from a former hospital chapel to mark his ongoing cancer treatment.

The 76-year-old recorded the speech a fortnight ago amid high security at ­Fitzrovia Chapel in central London.

He will mention his and the Princess of Wales’s health battles in the first Christmas broadcast in 14 years to be filmed away from the royal estate.

Charles was said to be “enchanted” by the stunning chapel.

He was then told about the chapel in central London, which served patients at nearby Middlesex Hospital and is now used by the community.

Charles is said to have loved photos of the ornate 19th-century venue, and surprised passers-by when he arrived for filming amid high security a fortnight ago.

A Palace source said: “The King wanted to do things a bit differently this year and reach out into the community rather than just in the royal estates, which is a key theme of his work.”

He loved the pictures and loved the story behind it and loved the place when he got there. He was completely enchanted.

A source on Charles choosing the chapel

The Royal Household scoured several locations for the address until finding “a clear favourite” which “ticked all the boxes”.

Charles personally chose it before visiting for the first time on the day of filming on December 11, when the area close to Oxford Street was closed off.

The source added: “It seemed logical it must have some healthcare connection, it had to be a community space there to bring communities together, that it was suitably beautiful and festive, and have a royal connection, and be in easy reach of Buckingham Palace.

“He loved the pictures and loved the story behind it and loved the place when he got there. He was completely enchanted.”

 In 1987, Charles’s then-wife ­Princess Diana famously shook hands — without wearing gloves — with Aids patients when she opened Middlesex Hospital’s specialist Broderip Ward.

Diana, who divorced Charles in 1996, also returned with then-First Lady Barbara Bush in 1991.

Although the contents of tomorrow’s address are kept secret until it airs, it is understood Charles will mention his and the current Princess of Wales’s cancer struggles.

However, their health battles, which have loomed large in the royal year, will not be the “dominant theme”, it is claimed.

It will touch on “international, national and personal challenges and coming together of communities” such as the response to the horrific killings at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport.

It will also record royal achievements such as Charles and Camilla’s tour of Australia and Samoa.

Going behind the scenes

One of the main themes is a plea for “peace”, it is understood.

Buckingham Palace yesterday issued a photograph of the King filming the address inside the Byzantine-inspired chapel.

Just like last year, he stands for his address and wears one of his favourite blue ties.

In another change from Queen Elizabeth’s broadcasts, the Palace will release a teaser clip today.

There will also be a behind-the-scenes making of the King’s Speech sent out on Boxing Day on social media.

 Eyewitnesses said they were stunned to see Charles arrive at the chapel, which is next to aptly-named Middleton Place and The King and Queen pub, at around 3.30pm on December 11.

They described it as “cloak and dagger”, with the King and his security team “literally in-out”.

One said: “They just pulled up here and shut the door of the ­chapel and were there for about an hour. I was shocked when I saw him – I said ‘Oh my God it’s Charles!’”

We end the year in such a positive place it is even beyond the most optimistic hopes of doctors.

Source on the King's health

An onlooker from a nearby building added: “There were close protection officers, we knew this because they had all their medals embroidered into their suits and were very coy.

“It was very cloak and dagger. We were up at the top window facing the whole thing.

“There were three cars parked outside the chapel. There was a photographer here with the biggest camera in the world, but security wouldn’t let him go much further.

“The whole thing was very fast, ­literally in-out.”

Another passer-by said: “I came to work and the whole road was cordoned off.

“There were three cars and six police bikes and security all up that road, loads of them.

“We weren’t told what was going on, I think they kept it all hush-hush.”

The Christmas tree seen behind the King was decorated sustainably with recyclable pine cones, metal bells and glass baubles.

It was subsequently donated to Croydon BME Forum and Macmillan Cancer Support’s “Can You C Me” project, and now sits at Royal Trinity Hospice, Clapham, South West London.

Although the King’s cancer treatment continues, the Palace say it is moving in a “positive direction”.

A source told The Sun: “We end the year in such a positive place it is even beyond the most optimistic hopes of doctors.”

Meanwhile, Kate, 42, announced in September she had completed chemotherapy after initially revealing her cancer diagnosis in March.

The monarch’s Christmas TV address has rarely been held outside royal residences since the first in 1957.

The late Queen recorded at Royal Albert Hall in 1988, Combermere Barracks in Windsor in 2003, Southwark Cathedral in 2006 and Hampton Court in 2010.

However, tomorrow’s address from Fitzrovia Chapel is the fourth different location in as many years.

The late Queen filmed her final one in 2021 from Windsor Castle. A year later, for his first, the King pre-recorded from St George’s Chapel in Windsor, which hosted his mother’s committal service.

Then last year he filmed his speech from Buckingham Palace.