It has been confirmed, this year, Queen Elizabeth II and the rest of the British Royal Family will be forced to alter their established way of celebrating the Christmas holiday due to the ongoing pandemic.
The Queen, who usually spends Christmas with her whole family at the royal estate in Sandringham, will comply with the imposed health regulations, which dictate that the festive gatherings are limited to three households this year.
As a result, Queen Elizabeth will celebrate the festive period in the company of her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Windsor Castle.
This would be a very different Christmas for the monarch, who normally arrives at Sandringham in December and stays there until February in honor of her father, George VI, who passed away at Sandringham’s house on February 6.
Besides, despite the common belief that Christmas decorations are to be taken off at the beginning of January, the Queen intentionally does not keep this particular tradition, and Sandringham’s house usually remains decorated until she and Prince Philp set off in February.
The unexpected death of King George VI back in 1952 happened when his eldest daughter was just 25 years old, and the news of his demise reached her when she was in Kenya on her way to an official tour in Australia.
Following the death of her parent, the young monarch opened up about how devastated she felt in a correspondence to Sir Eric Charles Miéville: “It all seems so unbelievable still that my father is no longer here, and it is only after some time has passed, one begins to realize how much he is missed.”
She added: “My mother and sister have been wonderful, for they have lost so much – I do have my own family to help me.”
Another significant change that will take place because of COVID-19 is that Queen Elizabeth will make sure the world gets access to her annual Christmas message via Amazon’s Alexa devices.
Alexa Europe director Eric King said in a statement: “After a challenging year, millions of people from across the Commonwealth will be eagerly awaiting Her Majesty the Queen’s message on Christmas Day. By creating this world-first innovation, just as we did in 2012 with the release of the Queen’s Christmas speech on Kindle, we hope that even more people will be able to enjoy the uplifting words of Her Majesty.”
King added: “This really is one for the history books and showcases just how far technology has advanced since the very first speech was delivered back in 1932.”
Queen Elizabeth is still a very forward-looking figure.
