The Queen will spend their Christmas "quietly" at Windsor this year,breaking with the tradition of hosting the Royal Family at Sandringham during the festive period.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: “Having considered all the appropriate advice, The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh have decided that this year they will spend Christmas quietly in Windsor.”
The royals spent Christmas at Windsor during the sixties, when the Queen's children were young.
But when the Castle was being rewired in 1988, they relocated their celebrations to Sandringham - where they have spent the day ever since.
They usually attend a traditional church service at St Mary Magdalene, which was loved by the Queen's Great-Great Grandmother Queen Victoria.
Like many big family gatherings this year, the Royal's mass get-together was already off, as the wider family separated into smaller bubbles.
From December 23 to 27 Brits are allowed to mix three households together, meaning the monarch had some difficult decisions to make.
HM and Prince Philip, 99, are in the highest risk bracket, with the latter's pre-existing health issues that saw him hospitalised last Christmas a key factor in any decision making.
The news comes as former royal butler Paul Burrell told listeners of Vicky Pattison's 'The Secret' podcast that Her Majesty loves doing the washing up but only eats "very little portions" on Christmas Day.
Paul Burrell, formerly Her Majesty's personal footman and later Diana's butler for 10 years, said the 94-year-old monarch has "great self-discipline" and refuses to gorge on turkey, stuffing or pigs in blankets.
Mr Burrell, 62, said: "[The Queen] only ever eats very little portions.
"She doesn’t eat a Christmas dinner like we do where it is piled high and you can’t see each other across the table."
