An audience of 8.96 million saw the festive address on BBC One, ITV and Sky News, according to overnight ratings.

The BBC's Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special and Call the Midwife were the next two most popular shows.

In the battle of the soaps, ITV's Coronation Street came out on top.

In her first annual Christmas message since the death of Prince Philip, the Queen, 95, described him as her beloved.

"Christmas can be hard for those who have lost loved ones - this year especially I understand why," she said in the pre-recorded 10-minute address broadcast at 15:00 GMT.

Her message last year, which centred on hope amid the pandemic, also topped the ratings, but drew slightly fewer viewers, with 8.14 million tuning in.

First Dates host Fred Sirieix opened the Strictly Christmas special with a quickstep

By early evening, nearly six million were following six celebrities as they competed for the crown in Strictly's Christmas Special.

This year's champion, pop star Anne-Marie, cha cha cha-ed her way to a perfect score of 40 from the judges, beating former Bake Off presenter Mel Giedroyc whose dance to Vanilla Ice's Ice Ice Baby was also a big hit.

Other BBC Christmas Day favourites followed in the ratings list, including Michael McIntyre's Christmas Wheel, Blankety Blank, Mary Poppins Returns starring Emily Blunt, and Superworm, an adaptation of Julia Donaldson's popular children's book.

Coronation Street was in eighth place - ITV's top-rated programme of the day - drawing 3.25 million viewers, followed closely by soap rivals ITV's Emmerdale (3 million) and BBC's EastEnders (2.92 million), according to ratings body Barb.

This year, ITV put its Christmas Day shows on its on-demand player in the morning. People watching in that way are not reflected in the overnight figures, but will be included in the consolidated figures, which come out in just over a week's time.

Analysis: Our changing Christmas Day TV habits

The smiles didn't last for long in the 1986 Christmas Day episode of EastEnders, watched by 20 million people

Thirty-five years ago, in 1986, about 20 million people tuned in to watch Den Watts present Angie with divorce papers on EastEnders on Christmas Day. The days of these kind of huge viewing figures are long gone.

Multi-channel television and other activities mean the tradition of families sitting around in front of the box on Christmas Day has gradually weakened.

And live viewing on Christmas Day itself has become less important as a TV showcase.

Excluding the Queen and news programmes, last year the most popular show watched on the day during the festive period was actually an episode of The Repair Shop that aired on Boxing Day.

But viewers will still tune in in big numbers to watch a programme live on Christmas Day when they feel it represents genuine event TV.

Two years ago the first new Gavin & Stacey episode in just under 10 years had an audience on Christmas Day of nearly 12 million.

Audiences clearly felt that it was a hugely welcome addition to a day which most of the time is made up of festive editions of shows that are already regulars in the TV schedules.

Christmas Day 2021's Top 10 TV hits

1. The Queen - 8.96m (7.4m on BBC One, 1.49m on ITV, 0.07m on Sky News)

2. Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One) - 5.78m

3. Call The Midwife (BBC One) - 4.72m

4. Michael McIntyre's Christmas Wheel (BBC One) - 4.64m

5. Blankety Blank (BBC One) - 4.24m

6. Mary Poppins Returns (BBC One) - 3.66m

7. Superworm (BBC One) - 3.34m

8. Coronation Street (ITV) - 3.25m

9. Emmerdale (ITV) - 3m

10. EastEnders (BBC One) - 2.92m

Source: Barb