29 November 2024,   04:45
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The Queen and Prince Philip confirm they will spend Christmas without family

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will spend Christmas "quietly" at Windsor Castle and will not form a "bubble" with any other family members.


The Queen 94, and Prince Philip, 99, traditionally spend the festive season with close family at Sandringham, in Norfolk. But this year they will forgo the festivities and remain at Windsor Castle, where they have been isolating with a "bubble" of staff since October.


It is understood the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will not take advantage of the relaxed COVID restrictions to form a Christmas bubble with other households. It means the couple face spending Christmas Day without any of their four children for the first time since 1949, when the then Princess Elizabeth left a one-year-old Charles in the UK so she could be with Prince Philip in Malta.

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