King Charles has poignantly chosen a former hospital chapel to deliver his annual Christmas broadcast.

The message was recorded by Sky News at the Fitzrovia Chapel in central London, after the King personally requested a different location, outside the royal estate.

The venue is a tiny building, originally for staff and patients of the now-demolished Middlesex Hospital.

It is clear he wants to make a statement with this year’s address.

Royal sources say his wish list for the setting included a connection with health, a space used by the whole community, and a venue with “spiritual solace.” He also hoped there would be a royal link.

Unusual, but not unprecedented 

The royal Christmas broadcast was first made in 1932 by George V, who recorded it from Sandringham House in Norfolk.

Most messages have been recorded from a location within the royal estate.

But this isn’t the first time a monarch has rejected a royal residence.

The late Queen recorded three of her broadcasts from different venues. 

In 1989, she spoke from the Royal Albert Hall, in front of two thousand children. In 2003, the location was Combermere Barracks in Windsor in tribute to the armed forces involved with the Second Gulf War. 

Three years later in 2006, she filmed her message inside Southwark Cathedral in London.