OUT OF MA'AM'S WAY
Queen to withdraw from public duties for months in longest absence of her 68-year reign due to coronavirus
THE Queen is due to withdraw from public duties for MONTHS in what could be the longest absence of her 68-year reign.
Her Majesty, who is 94, will remain at Windsor Castle indefinitely as the coronavirus crisis continues in the UK.
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Buckingham Palace will be closed to the public this summer for what is thought to be the first time in almost 30 years.
reports that her diary of engagements into the autumn is also on hold.
She had plans for a state visit to South Africa in October, but it is not yet known if this will go ahead.
Events including Trooping the Colour, the Order of the Garter service and her summer garden parties have already been cancelled, while Royal Ascot - which she attends annually - will only take place behind closed doors, if at all.
The Queen has recently given two public addresses to the nation.
In the first, on April 5, she echoed WWII forces sweetheart Dame Vera Lynn as she promised those coping with forced separation from loved ones "we will meet again".
Some 24million people watched the speech.
And on VE Day, she urged Brits: "Never give up - never despair."
GARDEN PARTIES CANCELLED OVER PANDEMIC
The monarch usually returns from Windsor to Buckingham Palace in May before taking her annual summer break at Balmoral in July.
However, royal aides say she has no engagements and will not leave Windsor until the threat from coronavirus clears.
Her last public engagement was the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey on March 9.
She has been isolating at Windsor with the Duke of Edinburgh since March 19.
Despite that, she has been in regular contact with the prime minister and other world leaders.
The news comes on the day Boris Johnson prepares to outline his 'road map' out of lockdown.
Yesterday, coronavirus deaths rose to 31,587 after 346 more people lost their lives to the deadly disease.
A royal source told The Times: “The Queen won’t do anything which goes against the advice of people in her [age] category and she’s going to take all the appropriate advice.
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"There are discussions about what we could and couldn’t do come October.
"We haven’t cancelled a load of engagements, but nothing is going into Her Majesty’s diary at the moment.
“If there is advice in the coming months that it’s fine for her to come back to London, she may do that, but until that time, she’d want to be seen to be being responsible in her actions for the nation.”
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