Royal Christmas and Corona: The Queen has shrunk Christmas

Queen Elizabeth II stays at home for Christmas and celebrates with the smallest family. This will make it a role model for many Britons. One tradition remains: the Queen’s Christmas address on the first holiday.

The Queen is celebrating small this year. She stays in Windsor and receives visits from her children and grandchildren in turns. It is Elizabeth II’s first Christmas as a widow after her husband Prince Philip passed away in April.

The Queen’s decision to forego the usual trip to her Sandringham country estate hit the headlines. In November the doctors still allowed her to prepare everything there. Then, last week, she canceled the traditional pre-Christmas family dinner in Windsor, to which 50 relatives were invited.

A real disappointment says royal family expert Jenny Bond: “She was really looking forward to this extended family circle, the Gloucesters, the Kents would have come, many who are otherwise not there in Sandringham. But the Queen found that because of the risk of corona infection Risky. For herself, but she didn’t want to spoil the other Christmas either. “

Maybe an argument for monarchy

Tuesday also the cancellation of the trip to Sandringham. Interestingly, exactly at a time when the British government, after a two-hour cabinet consultation, was unable to offer a new plan on how to better contain the Omicron variant.

The contrast could not have been greater, says the journalist and psychotherapist Lucy Beresford in the BBC and praises the Queen’s role model: “We have the two pillars of British society, the monarchy and the government. And one pillar has this pragmatic approach : clear decisions, do not cause a stir. The other is sinking into the chaos of scandals and is weak in making decisions. ”

In times of uncertainty, turn to institutions that promise stability and that you trust. That might even be an argument for the continued existence of the monarchy, so Beresford.

Traditional Christmas address on the first holiday

On words of hope and consolation from their Queen in view of the difficult situation, the British are allowed to settle down again on the first holiday when the traditional Christmas address is broadcast in the afternoon.

And there will be a new royal highlight in the television holiday program this year: The Duchess of Cambridge, better known as Kate, is hosting a concert of Christmas carols at Westminister Abbey – and she is very excited. The concert was recorded at the beginning of December. In a Christmas red dress, Duchess Kate presents Christmas classics with stars like Leona Lewis and Ellie Goulding.