Queen's Christmas Day message
Britain's Queen Elizabeth poses for a photograph as she stands in the State Dining Room of Buckingham Palace, after recording her Christmas Day television broadcast to the Commonwealth, in London POOL New/Reuters

This year, the Queen's 2015 Christmas Speech will begin at 3pm and last ten minutes, finishing at 3.10pm. It will be broadcast on television on BBC One, ITV, Sky 1 and Sky News. It is also available on the radio on BBC Radio 4 and Classic FM

This year marks the Queen's 58th Christmas broadcast. Last year 7.8 million Britons tuned into catch the address. The actual message is recorded a few days before Christmas.

The Queen's speech will this year be focused on the Queen's Christian faith and her belief in the important role of Christianity in modern British life. It comes at the end of a year in which the world has been left reeling after a spate of terrorist attacks by Islamic State (Isis) extremists. She is expected to reflect on the attacks on British holiday-makers in Tunisia and the massacre in Paris, according to those involved in the speech.

Christmas is one of the rare occasions when the Queen does not speak on Government advice. Instead, she gives her own views on events and developments that are of concern both to Her Majesty and her public, in the UK and elsewhere in the Commonwealth.

The first Christmas broadcast was made on Christmas Day, 1932, when King George V spoke on the 'wireless' to the Empire from a small office at Sandringham. The time chosen, 3pm, was the best time for reaching most of the countries in the Empire by short waves from the transmitters in Britain.

Throughout her reign the Queen has made a broadcast every year since 1952 except one. No Christmas broadcast took place in 1969. The location is usually Buckingham Palace, but recordings have also been made at Windsor and Sandringham.

You can watch the Queen's speech on Sky News live here. Licence fee payers in the UK can watch the Queen's speech on BBC on by clicking here and on ITV here.

Listen live to BBC radio 4 around the world here and Classic FM here.