Prince Charles and Camilla will join the Queen for Christmas Day
Charles and Camilla rally round the Queen for Christmas Day as they confirm they WILL join her at Windsor after Anne and Sir Timothy Laurence were forced to drop out
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The Queen will be joined on Christmas Day by Prince Charles and Camilla at Windsor Castle, in a boost for the monarch after Princess Anne was forced to drop out.
Clarence House confirmed this morning that the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall would join the 95-year-old monarch at Windsor this Saturday.
The plans of Charles and Camilla had been unclear until this morning – and they spent last Christimas at Highgrove, their country estate in Gloucestershire.
But a Clarence House spokesman said today: ‘The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall will be with Her Majesty The Queen on Christmas Day.’
It comes after the Queen received a festive blow yesterday after her son-in-law Timothy Laurence contracted Covid, meaning neither he nor Anne could join her.
The Queen had already decided to cancel her dinner at Windsor for her extended family this week as a result of rising coronavirus cases.
The Queen with Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwll in Braemar in September 2019
And on Monday it was revealed that she had also decided to scrap plans to travel to her beloved Sandringham for Christmas.
Sources indicated that the Queen felt it was ‘too difficult’ for her family and staff to move between residences safely bearing in mind pleas from the Government for the public to be cautious. One said: ‘Her Majesty always leads by example.’
Instead she plans to spend her Christmas quietly at Windsor, her first without husband Philip.
Several family members are expected to be with her: Prince Andrew and his family and the Earl and Countess of Wessex and their children.
But she had also hoped her daughter Anne, who she has a close relationship with, would be able to join her.
Instead Anne will be isolating with her husband at Gatcombe Park, their Gloucestershire estate.
A senior royal source confirmed last night: ‘Admiral Sir Tim has tested positive for Covid and is following all the appropriate rules. Christmas Day at Windsor will not be possible.’
The Daily Mail understands that Sir Tim tested positive early this week, meaning that under the new seven-day rule he and the princess could travel to see the Queen after the weekend.
She usually hosts around 20 to 30 family members at her Norfolk home, with crowds of wellwishers turning out to watch the royals walk to the Christmas Day service at the church on the estate.
It is not yet known where the the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will spend Christmas. William and Kate had intended to spend the festive season at Anmer Hall, their home on the Sandringham estate.
But they could change their plans to spend more time with the elderly monarch in Berkshire, because Kate’s parents live nearby.
Sources told the Mail that the Queen, who normally stays in Norfolk until early February, could yet travel there in January.
