(LANKAPUVATH | COLOMBO) – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has been forced to call off traditional Christmas plans at her Sandringham estate in Norfolk, eastern England, and will stay on at Windsor Castle amidst a surge in coronavirus cases being driven by the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
On Monday, she took what Buckingham Palace referred to as a “personal decision” to also call off plans to travel to Sandringham, where members of the royal family gather for church on Christmas morning.
The 95-year-old monarch had already called off an annual pre-Christmas lunch tradition for royal family members due to a surge in coronavirus cases being driven by the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
“It reflects a precautionary approach,” Buckingham Palace aides were quoted as saying.
It is the second year the pandemic has caused the cancellation of the Queen’s traditional Christmas trip to Sandringham and the first without her husband Prince Philip, who passed away in April. The couple had spent Christmas together last year at Windsor Castle in Berkshire, south-east England.
