Elizabeth II’s Christmas promises to be anything but joyful. While the Queen organizes festivities every year that bring together the entire royal family, large and small, it is without the great-grandchildren of the sovereign that these traditions could be held this time.
The traditional Christmas celebrations organized every year by Queen Elizabeth II seem more than ever in jeopardy. While the Sovereign is particularly fond of the holiday season because it brings together the entire royal family, young and old, she may be deprived of some of her beloved great-grandchildren this year. In an article published this Wednesday, November 11, the Express explains that Zara Philipps’ two daughters, Mia and Lena, could well miss family reunions.
Zara Tindall, from her married name, is not an active member of the royal family. But Elizabeth II’s favourite granddaughter is invited every year to join in the Queen’s Christmas festivities, including the annual luncheon held a week before Christmas Eve at Buckingham Palace.
This event is one of the few occasions when her daughters Mia and Lena, aged six and two respectively, can play with their cousins George, Charlotte and Louis, Kate and William’s children. But due to the coronavirus crisis, this reunion is more than compromised.
A ruined Christmas and an isolated queen
Faced with the dangerous increase in positive Covid-19 cases, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed a new containment in England, as was done in France. And if it is normally to be lifted on December 2, uncertainty reigns over the restrictions that will be maintained after that date.
Will Zara Tindall and her husband Mike, who live in Gloucestershire, be able to travel to London? And will Queen Elizabeth really be able to hold that Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace when she is currently isolated at Windsor Castle? The organization of large family reunions also raises questions for the safety of the sovereign who, at 94 years old, is necessarily a person at risk.
Current health measures prohibit the English population from gathering more than six people, even in private spaces. The monarch therefore does not, for the moment, have the right to invite all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
On the eve of the festive season, Elizabeth II thus seems increasingly isolated. Especially since the Queen of England has also been deprived of the visit of Baby Archie, whom she has not seen in person for almost a year. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, whose break with the royal family seems more and more definitive, have indeed decided to stay in California for the holidays. This year’s Royal Christmas is sure to be much less joyful.
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