Elizabeth II cancels a large Christmas party in Windsor

British media reported on Thursday that Queen Elizabeth II had decided to cancel a traditional meal she was hosting with her family members before Christmas due to increased pollution with an omicron variant of the coronavirus.

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The 95-year-old sovereign has been rarely seen since she was briefly hospitalized in October, planning to house nearly fifty people on Tuesday afternoon at her main residence, Windsor Castle, west of London. After that she will have to spend Christmas with her close family in Sandringham, East England.

According to a source in Buckingham Palace quoted by British media, the Queen has decided to cancel the event as a precaution, citing health concerns as Kovid-19 cases reach record levels in the UK.

The tabloid The Sun reported on Wednesday that she hopes to host her favorite meal, which was already canceled due to an epidemic last year and her first since her husband Philip died in April.

Due to the emergence of the Alpha variant many Britons have recently decided to cancel restaurant dinners, shows or Christmas parties to avoid endangering loved ones or canceling their Christmas plans as they did last year.

The health status of the sovereign, who has ruled for nearly 70 years, has been a concern since her doctors retired on October 20 and spent a night in hospital for “preliminary” tests, the nature of which has never been stated.

It significantly reduced its operations and terminated its presence at the COP26 climate conference in Scotland. She gained most of her audience via videoconference, but some even received the Sultan of Oman on Wednesday in Windsor without a mask.