This year for the first time, Queen Elizabeth II will deliver her Christmas message via YouTube on December 25th.

It was 50 years ago - way back in 1957 - that she delivered her first Christmas message on television (see the video at this link). Now 50 years later, at age 81, she is embracing YouTube as the new medium for her message.

She's even approved a YouTube 'Royal Channel' which goes live today and features some rare videos made of her coronation as well as some footage from 1923 of her mother's wedding.

Now if only the Royal Channel allowed other sites to show these videos (enabled the embedding function on YouTube). The Queen's message would would be seen by many more viewers that way.