For the first time, Queen Elizabeth II marked Christmas in a third dimension. Speaking from London, the queen videotaped her traditional holiday address to the British public in 3-D, and even donned 3-D glasses to watch it from Buckingham Palace. In the remarks, which she writes herself annually, the queen paid tribute to servicemen and women whose “sense of duty takes them away from family and friends†over the holidays, and highlighted a year that included the 60th anniversary of her reign and the London Olympic Games, The Associated Press reported.
“It was humbling that so many chose to mark the anniversary of a duty which passed to me 60 years ago,†she said, as footage showed the celebration of the Diamond Jubilee along the River Thames. (Though the message was taped just after the world learned of the pregnancy of the former Kate Middleton, wife of Elizabeth's grandson, Prince William, the queen did not mention the anticipated arrival of a great-grandchild.)
Several other prominent British figures also amplified their means of communication this year. The archbishops of Canterbury and York each delivered their Christmas sermons simultaneously in person and on Twitter, perhaps inspired by technological savvy of Pope Benedict XVI. John Sentamu, the archbishop of York, and Dr. Rowan Williams, who is serving his last year as archbishop of Canterbury, live-tweeted t heir sermons complete with a hashtag, #cswc, for “Christmas starts with Christ.â€
