One of the traditions of Christmas Day in the UK is the Queen’s speech at 3 o’clock when people are usually stuffed to the gills after Christmas dinner, but this year it was King Charles.

I am still getting used to addressing him in this way, and after decades of calling him Prince Charles, it will probably keep slipping out.

Although many would say they would sleep through the speech due to their food coma, I have always liked to listen to the speech, not because I am an ardent Royalist, but because, unlike our politicians, the late Queen and now King Charles seem to represent a comforting familiarity and have much wisdom to impart to us.

This was the first King’s speech, and it felt very relevant to discuss it because he talked about the “selfless army of people, volunteers who serve their communities in so many ways and with such distinction, were able to join us in Westminster Abbey for the Coronation earlier this year.

They are an essential backbone of our society. Their presence meant so much to us both and emphasised the meaning of Coronation itself: above all, a call for us all to serve one another, to love and care for all.”

Those who were invited to the Coronation were the select few. Still, I hope this small piece will honour those who did not get the invite from Buckingham Palace, who through rain or shine, continue this backbreaking and largely unacknowledged work, and as someone who sees this daily on a personal and professional basis, I know and appreciate their true value. I salute them all but would hope the King reflects on whether his words are reflected in the actions and rhetoric of His Government, which has vilified immigrants despite being the most ethnically diverse Government I have ever seen in my lifetime and still peddles xenophobia and racism which those of us who lived through the 1950s to 1980s were all too familiar with.

I work in an institution, the NHS, which would collapse overnight if immigration were to stop, but as we deal with an ageing population, the NHS will not survive unless Social Care is addressed, and this is another area which is reliant on immigration. I am not a royalist, but if we could have more of the King’s wisdom and his commitment to the common good rather than the venal rhetoric of our current batch of politicians, then we can build a better and stronger society, and this is best said in the final words of his speech.

“And at a time of increasingly tragic conflict around the world, I pray that we can also do all in our power to protect each other. The words of Jesus (AS) seem more than ever relevant: ‘do to others as you would have them do to you’. Such values are universal, drawing together our Abrahamic family of religions and other belief systems across the Commonwealth and the wider world. They remind us to imagine ourselves in the shoes of our neighbours and to seek their good as we would our own.

So on this Christmas Day, my heart and my thanks go to all who are serving one another, all who are caring for our common home, and all who see and seek the good of others, not least the friend we do not yet know. In this way, we bring out the best in ourselves.

I wish you a Christmas of peace on Earth and goodwill to all, today and always.”