Unity and hope in the face of adversity and the importance of family were the themes of this year's broadcast with royal tours, the Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, the wedding of Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall and the differences between the two, and the Commonwealth also being touched upon in those two contexts, respectively. The message was recorded prior to the hospitalisation of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh for emergency heart surgery. This was the first Christmas message produced by Sky News.
