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(Picture: PA Wire)The Queen has cancelled a pre-Christmas family lunch due to a surge in Omicron Covid cases.
The 95-year-old monarch was planning to welcome 50 or so relatives, including Prince Charles and Camilla, to an event at Windsor Castle next week.
It is understood the decision to cancel the lunch was a precaution with a source suggesting it could put too many people’s Christmas arrangements at risk if it went ahead.
Royal sources said “there is a belief that it is the right thing to do for all concerned”.
It comes after Professor Chris Whitty told the public on Wednesday to prioritise events that “really matter to them” over the festive period, in an effort to curb the spread of Omicron.
Last year’s lunch was also scrapped because of the Covid-19 crisis.
Most years, the Queen invites her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to join her at Buckingham Palace before she departs for her annual Christmas stay at Sandringham.
However, the lunch was due to take place at Windsor as the palace is undergoing major renovation works at present.
The pre-Christmas celebration gives the head of state a chance to catch up with relatives who are unable to travel to Norfolk for Christmas Day.
The wider family is also usually invited, including the Queen’s cousins the Gloucesters, the Duke of Kent and the Michaels of Kent.
This Christmas is the Queen’s first since the death of her husband of 73 years, the Duke of Edinburgh.
The Queen and Philip spent Christmas Day together at Windsor in 2020, without the rest of the family, after spending most of the year being cared for by a reduced number of staff in what was dubbed HMS Bubble.
On Wednesday the UK recorded 78,610 new Covid cases, the highest number since the pandemic began.
The increase is being driven by the new Omicron variant, thought to be more transmissible and resistant to vaccines.
There are currently 15 people in hospital with Omicron.
Early studies have shown that Omicron causes less severe illness with cold-like symptoms.
