The Queen to address UN in July

UNITED NATIONS: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II will address the UN General Assembly for the first time in more than 50 years during a July visit to New York, according to the British mission to the world body.

The 83-year-old monarch and her husband, Prince Philip, will arrive in New York on July 6 after making a nine-day state visit to Canada and leave later the same day, it said in a statement.

The queen has addressed the United Nations General Assembly on only one previous occasion, in 1957.

She is addressing the body in her capacity as the head of state of the United Kingdom and 15 other UN member states: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.

She is also head of the Commonwealth, an association of 54 countries, mostly former British colonies.