Queen Elizabeth cancels annual family pre-Christmas lunch amid COVID-19 surge
Queen Elizabeth has canceled her annual pre-Christmas celebration for family for the second year in a row due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 95-year-old monarch traditionally holds a lunch at Buckingham Palace before Christmas for extended members of the royal family, but has decided to cancel it again this year, a royal source told ABC News.
"The decision is a precautionary one as it is felt to put too many people’s Christmas arrangements at risk if it went ahead," the royal source said. "While there is regret that it is cancelled, there is a belief it is the right thing to do for all concerned."
The United Kingdom on Wednesday recorded the highest number of confirmed new COVID-19 infections since the pandemic began nearly two years ago, according to The Associated Press.
Buckingham Palace has not yet confirmed where or with whom Queen Elizabeth will celebrate Christmas, her first without her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, who died in April at the age of 99. Last year, also amid the coronavirus pandemic, the royal family broke a decades-long tradition of spending Christmas at Sandringham, Queen Elizabeth's estate in Norfolk.
The queen and Philip instead spent the Christmas holiday at Windsor Castle, their home outside London, where they had spent much of their time since March 2020, when the U.K. began its first stay-at-home orders.
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/queen-elizabeth-cancels-annaul-family-pre-christmas-lunch/story?id=81787526
