Queen Elizabeth II praises workers who fight Ebola

Britain's Queen Elizabeth poses for a photograph as she stands in the State Dining Room of Buckingham Palace, after recording her Christmas Day television broadcast to the Commonwealth, in London December 10, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

LONDON - Queen Elizabeth II will use her traditional Christmas broadcast to call for international reconciliation and to praise medical workers fighting Ebola in Africa.

The queen plans to say she has been "deeply touched" by the "selflessness" of doctors and nurses combating the Ebola outbreak.

Each year the queen writes her own Christmas speech, which is pre-recorded and televised in many parts of the world on the afternoon of Christmas Day. She made her first Christmas broadcast on radio in 1952.

The queen plans to celebrate the holiday with her husband Prince Philip and other senior royals at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England.

They will attend a church service Christmas morning before enjoying a gala lunch.