Queen Elizabeth Moving to Windsor Castle Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
The royal family is making schedule changes amid growing coronavirus concerns.
Queen Elizabeth II is taking precautionary measures amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Buckingham Palace announced on Tuesday that the queen will be moving to Windsor Castle for the Easter period on March 19, one week earlier than planned. It is likely the queen will stay there beyond the Easter period.
A palace spokesperson also told ET on Thursday that Prince Philip joined his wife at Windsor Castle.
Three garden parties hosted by the queen in May are also being canceled at this time. The annual Maundy Service at St. George’s Chapel April 9 is also being nixed. "Two additional Garden Parties given for the Not Forgotten Association and the National Trust will also not take place. Investitures will be rearranged to later dates," the palace stated. "Further announcements on Trooping the Colour, the 75th anniversary of VE Day and the State Visit by the Emperor and Empress of Japan will be made in due course, in consultation with Government."
Meanwhile, it was previously announced that Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, will not be attending their scheduled spring royal tour. Charles, 71, was due to fly to Bosnia on Tuesday before being joined by Camilla, 72, in Cyprus and Jordan for an eight-day tour.
Last Friday, Clarence House officially announced that the tour is being indefinitely postponed.
“Owing to the unfolding situation with the Coronavirus pandemic, The British Government has asked Their Royal Highnesses to postpone their spring tour to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus and Jordan,” Clarence House told ET in a statement.
Shortly after the decision to postpone the trip was announced, Buckingham Palace released a statement saying the Queen's schedule would also be changing.
"As a sensible precaution and for practical reasons in the current circumstances, changes are being made to The Queen’s diary commitments in the coming weeks," the statement reads of the 93-year-old queen's schedule changes. "In consultation with the Medical Household and Government, Her Majesty’s forthcoming visits to Cheshire and Camden will be rescheduled. Audiences will continue as usual. Other events will be reviewed on an ongoing basis in line with the appropriate advice."
The royals have previously acknowledged the pandemic by choosing not to shake hands with members of the public at their official events. On Monday, senior members of the royal family attended the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey where they noticeably abstained from handshakes, with Charles instead offering a "namaste" and a bow.
He did the same on Wednesday at the Prince's Trust and TK Maxx & Homesense Awards at the London Palladium, where he was seen struggling to remember not to shake hands.
"It's just so hard to remember not to," he was overheard saying at the event.
Last week, Charles' son, Prince William, was filmed making light of the panic surrounding the spread of the disease, saying, "I bet everyone's like, 'I've got coronavirus, I'm dying,' and you're like, 'No, you've just got a cough.' It does seem quite dramatic about coronavirus at the moment."
This comes amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, which has caused many events to be canceled or delayed, shows to go without a live studio audience, filming to be halted, release dates to be pushed back, schools to be closed, and much more.
For more on how the outbreak has affected Hollywood and the rest of the world, watch the clip below:
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