Queen cancels Christmas lunch with the royal family amid huge surge in Omicron cases

It has been announced that the Queen has canceled her Christmas lunch with the royal family amid a surging number of COVID-19 Omicron cases. 

• The Queen planned to host a Christmas party at Windsor Castle this festive season.
• Sadly for Her Majesty, it has just been announced that this party has now been canceled.
• In other royal news, Sarah Ferguson says her relationship with Prince Andrew is a 'fairytale' and 'stands by him' despite sexual assault allegations.

Queen has said "with regret" that the royal family's annual Christmas party will be canceled this year because of COVID-19, reports The Sun.

It is said that Her Majesty has made this decision because it was "the right thing to do" as cases of the Omicron variant continue to surge in the UK.

It has been reported that although the decision to cancel was "a precautionary one," it was felt by Her Majesty that this festive family get-together would "put too many people's Christmas arrangements at risk if it went ahead".

Buckingham Palace has also declined to comment further as the Christmas party was not an official royal engagement and instead, a "private family event".

This annual Christmas get-together was reportedly due to take place on Tuesday, December 21, 2021, at Windsor Castle. 

This pre-Christmas reunion was for the entire royal family, before the Queen and other members head to Norfolk for Christmas Day.

It is thought that the Queen would fly via helicopter to Sandringham House where she will be joined by Prince William, Kate Middleton, and their children who will be staying close by at their Norfolk property Amner Hall.

Traditionally the family also gets together at Sandringham on Christmas Eve for dinner where they also keep a tradition that pays tribute to the royal family's German heritage. 

The family then has an additional feast on Christmas Day where they eat a turkey lunch after they attend the Christmas mass at St Mary Magdalene's Church on the Sandringham estate.

Now that the Windsor event is canceled, it is unclear when Her Majesty will travel to Sandringham and which members of the royal family might join her there.

This is a particularly challenging festive period for Her Majesty who lost her husband earlier this year, it will be her first Christmas without him, and unfortunately possibly without her extended family too.