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Queen Elizabeth II will pay tribute to her husband Prince Philip in her Christmas message, and praise his "support and unique sense of humour".
- Excerpts of Queen's Christmas message released ahead of broadcast
- Broadcast starts at 7.20pm AEDT
- Queen pays tribute to Prince Philip, talks about importance of home
The 96-year-old Duke of Edinburgh has been at the Queen's side throughout her 65 years on the throne, and has regularly grabbed the headlines with his off-colour comments.
He retired from regular royal duties over the summer, but has continued to make occasional appearances, most recently walking to the Christmas Eve church service on the Royal family's Sandringham estate.
The Queen will also talk about the importance of home in her message, and the sense of community in London and Manchester after the capital's devastating Grenfell Tower fire and the militant attacks in both cities.
"We think of our homes as places of warmth, familiarity and love … there is a timeless simplicity to the pull of home," she will say, according to excerpts from her speech released by Buckingham Palace.
"This Christmas, I think of London and Manchester, whose powerful identities shone through over the past 12 months in the face of appalling attacks."
The Queen, the world's longest reigning monarch, very rarely talks about her husband.
On their golden wedding anniversary in 1997, she said he did not take easily to compliments but had been her, "strength and stay all these years".
Prince Philip, who carried out more than 22,000 solo engagements, developed a reputation for his comments, including his remark about "slitty eyes" on a visit to China in the 1980s.
In the following decade he said, "Aren't most of you descended from pirates?" to an islander in the Cayman Islands, and asked a driving instructor in Scotland: "How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?"
The seasonal royal message dates back to King George V in 1932 and was first televised 60 years ago in 1957.
The message will be broadcast at 7.20pm AEDT.
Remarks pre-recorded by the 91-year-old monarch will be televised on Christmas Day in the United Kingdom, Australia and the 50 other Commonwealth countries.
The Queen, Prince Philip and family members plan to attend a church service on Monday on the grounds of the country estate in Sandringham.
They typically mingle with locals who come to watch them arrive at church.
The Royal family has a private lunch scheduled afterwards.
This is the first Christmas the family will be joined by Prince Harry's fiancee, American actress Meghan Markle.
Reuters/AP
Topics: royal-and-imperial-matters, government-and-politics, united-kingdom
First posted