Queen cancels Christmas travel, taking ‘precautionary approach’

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth will be remaining in Windsor Castle for the Christmas holidays, canceling previous plans to travel to Sandringham in Norfolk amid rising Covid-19 cases in the UK.

Buckingham Palace confirmed the cancellation of the traditional royal family gathering at Sandringham on Monday. The queen’s decision is a “personal one” and is a “precautionary approach,” palace aides said.

Family members will be joining the queen instead at Windsor, where the 95-year-old monarch has spent much of the pandemic, over the holidays. The queen previously canceled a holiday lunch with extended family out of precaution over the Covid pandemic and Omicron variant. 

“All appropriate guidelines will be followed” for potential visitors of the queen over the Christmas period.

The queen also stayed in Windsor last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This will be her first Christmas without her husband, Prince Philip, who passed away earlier this year. Britain’s royal family traditionally celebrates Christmas by walking from the Sandringham estate to a nearby church for holiday services.

The UK announced more than 90,000 new Covid cases on Monday, with two of the previous three days also seeing jumps of 90,000.