The Queen will celebrate the achievements of those who inspire others in her Christmas Day address, from Britain's Olympic and Paralympic athletes to "unsung heroes" like "volunteers, carers and good neighbours".

She will also cite the achievements of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award and The Prince's Trust in the year they respectively celebrated their 60th and 40th anniversaries.

A few days ahead of the broadcast it was announced the Queen would stand down as patron of 25 national organisations, though she remains patron of around 600 others.

The annual televised message to Britain and the Commonwealth countries, which was produced this year by ITN, will be broadcast on television and radio at 3pm and made available on the Royal Channel on YouTube.

It comes at a sad time privately for the royal family after it was announced the queen's granddaughter Zara Tindall had lost her second baby.

The baby, which would have been the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh's sixth great-grandchild, was due to be born in late spring.

The Queen and Prince Philip's annual trip to Sandringham for Christmas was also delayed after they both had heavy colds.

Looking back on the year, Her Majesty will pay tribute to the Team GB and ParalympicsGB success at Rio 2016, along with those from the Commonwealth countries, as part of the "inspiration" theme of this year's royal broadcast.

In particular, the Queen will commend the athletes that "having discovered abilities they scarcely knew they had ... are now inspiring others".

Reflecting on the past 12 months, during which the Queen celebrated her 90th birthday, she will pay tribute to those who do good away from the limelight.

The Queen recorded her Christmas message in Buckingham Palace's regency room while seated at a desk decorated with a floral display and featuring a photograph of her with the Prince of Wales.

The photograph, taken by fashion photographer Nick Knight in May, was released earlier this month to mark the formal end of the Queen's 90th birthday year.

The Queen's speech is one of the rare occasions when the Queen does not turn to the Government for advice and is able to voice her own views.

During the last 12 months some momentous events have taken place, most notably the UK voting to leave the European Union and David Cameron resigning as prime minister in the wake of the Brexit vote.