CBC News: Queen Elizabeth's annual Christmas address deals with the importance of family and community spirit as a source of strength in troubled times.

The speech looks back on an eventful year for the Royal Family. In April, the Queen's grandson Prince William married Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey, an event that garnered headlines around the world.

The Queen speaks of the Commonwealth as a family of countries “with a common bond, shared beliefs, mutual values and goals.” She also touches on recent natural disasters and conflicts.

“In this past year my family and I have been inspired by the courage and hope that we have seen in so many ways in Britain, in the Commonwealth and around the world,” she says.

“We’ve seen that it’s in hardship that we often find strength from our families.”

The speech aired worldwide on TV and radio at 10 a.m. ET and is available online through the Royal Family's YouTube channel.

Elizabeth's seven-minute address was recorded on Dec. 9, prior to the recent hospitalization of her 90-year-old husband, Prince Philip.

The video address is interspersed with images from the Queen's recent visit to Australia, where she presided over a meeting of Commonwealth leaders and toured areas of the country that had been badly damaged by flooding.

“We were moved by the way families in local communities held together to support each other,” she says.