How to watch the Queen's Coronavirus speech online for free: stream from UK or abroad

watch queen's speech
(Image credit: Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

At this time of national (and, of course, international) crisis, it's only natural that the Queen should speak to the people in a special address. It's only the fourth such time that she has done so in almost 70 years on the throne. Want to watch the Queen's Coronavirus speech online? Read on to find out everything you'll need to know.

Drastic times call for drastic measures, and the words of the 93-year old head of state will no doubt be of comfort to many.

Watch the Queen's speech online: when's it on?

The date and time of the Queen's Coronavirus address is 8pm BST on Sunday, April 5. So that's 3pm ET, midday PT and 5am AEST in the early hours of Monday Down Under.

As for where to watch it in the UK, you have some choice. As well as television and radio, it will also be streamed on the Royal Family's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Whether it will be in the form of morale-boosting encouragement for key workers and the NHS, or as a stern warning for every member of the public to play their part in flattening the curve of the outbreak, the Queen's address will likely have a committed global audience - much like her annual Christmas speech.

The address will be a recorded broadcast from Windsor Castle where the Queen has been residing since March 19. It's the first ad-hoc speech of this kind since the Queen Mother's death in 2002. She also gave similar addresses in light of Princess Diana's tragic death and during the first Gulf War.

Want to tune in? We've listed everything you need to know to watch the Queen's Coronavirus speech online below - no matter where in the world you are.


How to watch the Queen's speech online for free in the UK:

The pre-recorded Queen's Speech will be broadcast on Sunday, April 5. The time to watch is 8pm, with the speech likely to last no more than about 10 minutes.

You have a few choices for which channel to head to. It will air simultaneously on multiple TV channels, including BBC One, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky News. Rather watch it online? It will be available on the TVPlayer service, which hosts all of the UK's Freeview channels in one place.

And because of the magnitude of this address, it is also to be made available on each of the Royal Family's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. So it should be really easy to see, as long as you have a TV signal, radio or the internet. 


Stream Queen's speech from anywhere else in the world

If you happen to be somewhere in the world at the moment that won't be showing the speech, and blocks the above social media services, then you're a little bit stuck. The only option we can think of is to use a VPN, which allows you to alter your IP address to somewhere in another location (like the UK) and make it look like you're watching from there.

We've tested all of the major VPN services and we rate ExpressVPN as the absolute best. It's compatible with all of your devices, supports most streaming services and ranks amongst the fastest. You can even install it on devices like an Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Xbox and PlayStation. So for a one-stop shop, you can't go wrong with ExpressVPN.

ExpressVPN comes with a 30-day money back guarantee and if you click here you can get 49% off and 3 months free, too.

Once installed, simply open the VPN app, hit 'choose location' and select anywhere in the UK - it's super easy to do. Then head on over to the TVPlayer.com service or one of the Royal Family social media pages, the best free and legal way to stream the whole speech.

Adam Marshall

Adam was formerly the Content Director of Subscriptions and Services at Future, meaning that he oversaw many of the articles TechRadar produces about antivirus software, VPN, TV streaming, broadband and mobile phone contracts - from buying guides and deals news, to industry interest pieces and reviews. Adam has now dusted off his keyboard to write articles for the likes of TechRadar, T3 and Tom's Guide.