The Queen’s traditional Christmas Day speech will be available free on Kindle for the first time this year, the BBC reports. The speech will be available to read on the Kindle after it is broadcast at 3pm UK time on Christmas Day.
Book industry watchers have described it as a “coup” for Amazon, after successfully approaching the Royal Household with a proposal. In addition to this year’s speech, all of Queen Elizabeth’s Christmas speeches from 1952-2010 will also be available for download.
A statement from Buckingham Palace read:
“We would like The Queen’s Speech to be broadcast or read as widely as possible, and allowing Kindle to make the text available is just another example of this.”
The Royal Household did not rule out deals with other parties however:
“We would be happy to discuss a similar arrangements with other outlets, we have chosen ones that suits us, but if other companies approached us we would be willing to consider those as well.”
It’s worth noting that even though the speech hasn’t been announced for Apple’s iBooks platform yet, you can still check it out on your iPad by using Amazon’s free Kindle App.
