It was the Germans who brought the Christmas tree into England and American and introduced the word into the language.
George I, George II and George III ruled not only Hanover, but also Great Britain. However, George III actually was born in Britain and spoke English as his first language. Just like his father and grandfather, his wife was also born in Germany and spoke mainly German. Queen Charlotte came from Germany to meet him on their wedding day in 1761. Despite not having a great education, she supported German artists, such as Handel and Mozart, as well as taking an interest in botany, providing particular support to Kew Gardens. She brought her traditions with her. They included the Christmas tree. In royal circles it became the fashion. So much so that her seamstress recalled in her diary that her husband wantied “to have an illuminated tree according to the German fashion”. However, the tree for Christmas remained more or less the privilege of the aristocrats for some fifty years or so.
And then it was another German, Prince Albert (the husband of Queen Victoria) who made the tree more fashionable among the wealthy, and then gradually among all social strata round the British Isles.
The tradition of Christmas trees in North America also came from the Germans, this time German soldiers stationed in Quebec. There are many stories and legends of how Christmas trees made it to America, but all of them involved Germans in some way or other. It was as a result of pictures of Victoria and Albert celebrating Christmas that the celebrations went viral around 1850, about the same time it went mainstream in England.
Since then the Christmas tree has been unstoppable in the Western world. This year, in the motherland of the Christmas tree, 29.2 million trees will find their way into homes over the holiday period. And once again the world’s most famous Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center will be lit up, celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, with 30,000 lights and some 8 kilometres of wiring.
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