Every December, Trafalgar Square receives a Christmas tree from Oslo. The annual gift is one of London’s most familiar seasonal traditions, but its meaning extends far beyond decoration. It is Norway’s continuing expression of gratitude for Britain’s support during the Second World War and a public symbol of the friendship between the two countries.

Arriving for the 2016 ceremony

This Roberts London archive film records the lighting ceremony held on Thursday 1 December 2016. Trafalgar Square is already busy when the film begins, with Londoners and visitors moving towards the tree beneath the winter darkness.

The printed programme provides a guide to the evening. The tree was scheduled to be illuminated at 6pm by the Mayor of Westminster, the Norwegian Ambassador and the Governing Mayor of Oslo. The Salvation Army and the choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields supplied the carols, while local schoolchildren contributed poetry.

A Norwegian gift to London

Oslo has presented a tree to London every year since 1947. The tradition commemorates Britain’s assistance to Norway during the German occupation from 1940 to 1945, when King Haakon VII and the Norwegian government operated in exile from London.

The 2016 tree was the seventieth annual gift. Contemporary information described it as a 22-metre Norway spruce, 116 years old. After being selected and felled in the Oslo forest, it travelled to Britain and was erected in Trafalgar Square.

The tree lights up Trafalgar Square

Once illuminated, the spruce becomes the dominant shape in the square. Its lights hang in long vertical strings, following the restrained Norwegian method of decoration. Rather than covering the branches with a dense mixture of colours and ornaments, the arrangement emphasises the natural height and outline of the tree.

The view is unmistakably London: the tree rises between the fountains and surrounding buildings, with Nelson’s Column, the National Gallery and St Martin-in-the-Fields nearby. Yet the presence of Norwegian flags and officials gives the ceremony the character of an international civic gathering.

Carols, poetry and the start of Christmas

The lighting is only the beginning of Trafalgar Square’s December programme. In 2016 it was followed by carol singing, the blessing of the crib and a succession of choirs raising money for charitable causes. These performances give the tree a continuing role as a meeting place rather than leaving it as a static display.

For many Londoners, the combination of the Oslo tree and carols marks the beginning of the Christmas countdown. The ceremony is formal enough to preserve its civic history, yet open enough for anyone passing through the West End to join the crowd.

A record of the seventieth gift

The tree remained in Trafalgar Square through the Christmas period before being removed and recycled after the season. Like the many trees sent before and since, it was temporary, but the friendship it represented was deliberately enduring.

Filmed among the crowd, this video preserves the ceremony as it felt in 2016: a cold evening, a brightly lit square and a tall Norwegian spruce drawing people together at the centre of London.