The Queen is to address the nation on Sunday evening, delivering a message about the coronavirus outbreak.

Expectation has been growing about when the head of state would make a public statement about the unprecedented events that have seen the country go into lockdown to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

Buckingham Palace said in a statement: "Her Majesty The Queen has recorded a special broadcast to the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth in relation to the coronavirus outbreak. The televised address will be broadcast at 8pm on Sunday 5th April, 2020.

"The address was recorded at Windsor Castle."

In the message the Queen is likely to praise the efforts of health workers and all those who have been helping in the fight against Covid-19, and offer reassurance to the nation.

The Prince of Wales offered his own video message of hope to the country earlier this week after coming out of isolation, following a positive test for Covid-19.

Charles said in his words of support: "As a nation, we are faced by a profoundly challenging situation, which we are only too aware threatens the livelihoods, businesses and welfare of millions of our fellow citizens.

"None of us can say when this will end, but end it will. Until it does, let us all try and live with hope and, with faith in ourselves and each other, look forward to better times to come."

The Queen's televised address to the nation will be only the fourth of her 68-year-reign during times of national crisis and grief.

While she broadcasts a recorded message each year on Christmas Day, special addresses from the monarch in troubled periods are rare.

There have been three previous speeches broadcast - after the Queen Mother's death in 2002; ahead of Diana, Princess of Wales's funeral in 1997; and about the First Gulf War in 1991.

Amid celebratory times, the Queen made a televised address to mark her Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

The Queen is highly experienced at public speaking and records her Christmas message in just one take, reading her script from a monitor.

But her message during the coronavirus pandemic had the added technical challenge of taking place while the UK is in lockdown.

The Queen, 93, has left London and is staying with the 98-year-old Duke of Edinburgh with a reduced household at Windsor Castle for their safety.