Queen Elizabeth II to pay tribute to British troops in Christmas day message

Queen Elizabeth II to pay tribute to UK troops

LONDON — Queen Elizabeth II will pay tribute to Britain’s armed forces in her traditional Christmas Day message.

The queen — who is the symbolic head of the U.K. military — will talk of the soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

More than 100 British soldiers have died this year in Afghanistan and 243 have been killed since operations began in October 2001.

The queen will also address the 54 member states of the Commonwealth in her annual speech which is broadcast from her Buckingham Palace home on Friday, Christmas Day. The speech will be broadcast at 1500 GMT.

Some details of the speech were released by Buckingham Palace on Thursday.