Queen Elizabeth II is expected to deliver a particularly personal Christmas Day message as she prepares for her first festive period since the death of the Duke of Edinburgh; Prince Philips.

Buckingham Palace has released a photograph of the monarch ahead of her televised address to the nation. The photo shows the Queen sitting behind a desk in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle, accompanied by a single, framed picture of the Queen and her late husband Prince Philip taken in 2007 at Broadlands country house, Hampshire, to mark their Diamond Wedding Anniversary.

The handout still shows the Queen wearing an embossed wool shift dress in Christmas red, by British designer Angela Kelly, as well as a sapphire chrysanthemum brooch which the then-Princess Elizabeth wore for a photocall on her honeymoon, also to Broadlands, in 1947, and for the couple’s Diamond Wedding celebrations.

This year’s message follows the death of her husband in April while coronavirus restrictions at the time meant the Queen was memorably and poignantly forced to sit alone in St George’s Chapel for his funeral services.

The Queen will be joined at Windsor Castle on Christmas Day by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, having shelved her customary trip to Sandringham as a “precautionary” measure amid rising coronavirus cases.

Her speech marks the end of a year peppered with both joy and immense sadness. The Queen welcomed four new great-grandchildren to the family – August to Princess Eugenie, Lucas to Zara Tindall, Lilibet to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and Sienna to Princess Beatrice.

The Queen’s address to the nation will be broadcast across multiple channels at 3 pm on Christmas Day.