Queen to address UN General Assembly

The Queen will address the General Assembly of the United Nations today for the first time in more than 50 years.

The speech to the 192 member states in New York will have the themes of leadership and the evolution of the UN and will also touch on the Commonwealth of Nations.

The monarch last spoke to the global body in October 1957 when she was 31 years old and had only been sovereign for five years.

The Queen, who will be joined by the Duke of Edinburgh, will speak in her capacity as head of the Commonwealth and as Monarch of 16 of the General Assembly's members.

Established in 1945 under the UN charter, the Assembly is the UN's chief deliberative, policymaking and representative organisation.

During the day-long trip to New York the royal couple will visit the World Trade Centre site where the Queen will lay a wreath and meet members of the police and fire departments who responded to the terrorist attacks nine years ago.

The monarch will go on to the British Memorial Garden where she will spend time with British families who lost relatives and receive 67 flowers - one for every UK person who died.

The visit to New York comes at the end of a nine-day tour of Canada which saw a farewell banquet, hosted by the country's prime minister Stephen Harper, staged in honour of the Queen on Monday night.