Queen will NOT spend Christmas at Sandringham: Monarch decides to celebrate at Windsor
Queen will NOT spend Christmas at Sandringham: Monarch, 95, decides to stay at Windsor where she will be visited by family over the festive period after ‘careful consideration’ amid spiking Covid cases
She will be visited by family over the festive period amid rising Covid casesMarks the second time since 1988 she will not be in Sandringham for ChristmasLast year, she stayed in Windsor with Prince Philip due to lockdown measuresYesterday, the Queen missed her usual church service at Windsor Castle
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The Queen will not spend Christmas at Sandringham after deciding to spend time at Windsor Castle amid a spike in Covid cases.
Queen Elizabeth will be visited by family over the festive period after making the ‘personal’ decision following ‘careful consideration’.
She will be visited by family over the Christmas period and ‘appropriate guidelines will be followed’.
Her majesty missed her usual church service at Windsor yesterday as part of the measures being taken to protect the traditional Christmas celebrations, which have been held at Sandringham since 1988.
Last year was the first Christmas in more than 30 years that the monarch was not with her family at the Sandringham estate over Christmas, as she spent the day privately with Prince Philip at Windsor Castle where they shielded throughout the lockdowns due to the pandemic.
This will be the first Christmas the Queen has marked since the death of her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, earlier this year and it is understood that family members are preparing to rally round her so she does not have to spend it alone.
She was due to leave for Sandringham on Wednesday, before the decision was announced today.
The Queen will not spend Christmas at Sandringham for the first time more than 30 years after deciding to spend time at Windsor
The Queen had been taking measures to protect her plans to host family Christmas festivities at Sandringham this year. Pictured: The Queen with her family at Christmas Day service in King’s Lynn in 2017
The Queen will not spend Christmas at Sandringham House (pictured), the Queen’s country residence in Norfolk, after deciding to spend time at Windsor amid a spike in Covid cases
Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with their children, Prince Andrew and daughters Beatrice and Eugenie and Prince Edward and Sophie Wessex’s family were expected to make the trip to join the Queen for the festivities this week.
Earlier today, reports said the Queen was still keen to go to her beloved 20,000-acre estate at Sandringham, in Norfolk, where she normally stays until early February – particularly as she spent last year at Windsor alone apart from her late husband and a handful of staff, due to lockdown.
Instead of joining a 200-strong congregation at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham for the traditional Christmas Day service, the Queen is expected to attend a scaled-back celebration at Windsor Castle.
It comes after the Queen ‘regretfully’ scrapped next week’s traditional Royal Family Christmas lunch amid Omicron fears.
While the Queen has been forced to pull out of several engagements over the past two months – including a visit to Northern Ireland – she has been well enough to carry out her duties as head of state.
Last week, she was seen taking part in video calls and a Palace source confirmed she had been walking unaided in London to honour a diary commitment after travelling to the capital from Windsor.
Changes to the Palace schedule, often schemed out months in advance, are never undertaken lightly, however. And reports suggested everything was being done to help the Queen save the family’s Sandringham Christmas.
An insider told the Mail on Sunday that the Queen had been due to stay at Sandringham until February 6 to mark the anniversary of her father’s death.
And next year will be a particularly poignant date, for it marks the 70th anniversary of the death of her father, King George VI – and the point at which the Queen will have been on the throne for seven decades.
The Platinum Jubilee celebrations will be yet another milestone for the Queen who in 2015 surpassed her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria to become the longest-reigning British Monarch.
