It’s honestly taken the better part of nine months to get Queen Elizabeth to take the pandemic seriously. Even though she was in a tightly controlled bubble since March, Liz still tried to do all of her normal activities, like travelling to Scotland for the summer, and enjoying a personal Trooping the Colour parade in Windsor (as London rioted), and wandering around maskless all the time. Now that the realities of the pandemic came crashing down on Liz’s Christmas plans, she begrudgingly says that she and Philip will spend Christmas at Windsor Castle, rather than Sandringham. This also means that a slew of pre-Christmas events at Buckingham Palace are cancelled, including the Queen’s gift-giving to staff, and the BP royal luncheon. She’s the Grinch!!
The Queen has been forced to cancel her annual Christmas gift-giving ceremony for the first time in her reign due to Covid restrictions. Every year the Monarch, 94, orders presents for every single member of the royal household, which are usually given to them along with a Christmas pudding in the Advent period. Past favourites include a special trinket box or a photo frame engraved with her personal cypher and champagne flutes. The Queen personally hands over her token of appreciation to a small selection of staff by the Christmas trees at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle as a special thank you for their loyal service, before she de-camps to Sandringham until February.
However, this year the intimate ceremonies have been cancelled due to social distancing regulations and the need for the 94-year-old monarch to stay in a strict operational bubble. Royal employees have also been informed, unsurprisingly, that the Palace’s main official Christmas party, as well as all smaller staff events, have been cancelled.
The annual lunch the monarch holds on the Wednesday before Christmas for her own extended family – which normally sees more than 25 royals and their children sit down to a full turkey lunch – has also, inevitably, fallen by the wayside, sources confirmed.
‘It’s a great shame but inevitable and the right thing to do,’ a source said. ‘The staff will still receive a gift from the Queen as usual but there will be no special moment with Her Majesty. It’s as much a disappointment for her as it will be for them, as it’s a hugely special time of the year. And like offices around the country there will be no Christmas parties at Buckingham Palace or any of the royal residences this year. It’s the way it has to be.’
The Queen’s gift-giving ceremony is always a matter of huge excitement for palace employees. The gifts are paid for by the Queen out of her own pocket and cost her tens of thousands of pounds each year. They will still be handed out, as will the Christmas puddings (although in recent years the Queen switched from Fortum & Mason to Tesco in a bid to save money). But thanks to Covid restrictions and the Queen’s tightly-controlled Windsor bubble, this will be done by departmental heads instead, either in person or via the royal post.
Well, at least the staffers are still receiving gifts, but they won’t get to have a moment face-to-face with the Queen. This actually seems like the odd royal “event” which could have had a pandemic work-around? Like, they could have organized a series of small-grouped masked employees to enjoy an outdoor gift-handing-out event at Windsor. With the Queen wearing a mask as well? Like, that would have worked, I think. But Liz probably didn’t want to wear a mask, or spend time with peasants. I wonder what she got her staffers this year? Personalized masks? HMS hand sanitizer in a special bottle? Hm.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.
ITA, not sure why this of all things gets cancelled. Couldn’t she at least stand in a window and wave at them while they file by and pick up their gifts from a table out front?
My first thought was move it outside. There is no shortage of outdoor space at Windsor.
I like that idea, Chaine!
Wow, that is petty!
The comment about switching from Fortnum & Mason to Tesco is so, so petty and I am HERE for it.
F&M is officially known as “The Queen’s Grocer” so buying them from a discount supermarket like Tesco “Every Little Helps” (owned by Walmart) is just a perfect example of how little she cares for her staff.
Exactly. I would be flabbergasted as a Palace worker to receive a Tesco’s pud if F&M was the precedent.
Liz is still upset that her staff revolted and refused to isolate for weeks to go to Sandringham with her for the traditional Xmas. God forbid they’d want to spend the holidays with their own families! This is her way of getting back at them – by cheaping out on their gifts! Pathetic!
Walmart doesn’t own Tesco.
Oops, I was mistaken – that’s Asda I was thinking of, they’re on the same level in terms of consumer base, targeting budget-friendly shoppers. Got mixed up, thanks for clarifying!
Walmart did own ASDA, but I think that changed this year?
@Michelle – no worries! @mynameispearl – I think they still do (font of all knowledge Wikipedia says so) but they’re possibly trying to sell. It was going to be bought out by Sainsbury’s but the deal was stopped for various reasons.
I also saw and loved the Tesco thing… hahahahahaha!
My favorite part!!!!
I’m confused. For months she’s been criticized here for NOT canceling stuff because of the pandemic but now when her staff does cancel two events which would bring her into direct contact with people not in her bubble ( the extended family at lunch & most of the palace staff) she is petty. Staff is still receiving a gift. Now canceling that truly would’ve been petty.
So, I think canceling all the events was the right thing to do, in general. But it seems petty because this is the one big concession the Queen has made re: the pandemic. She still insisted on her mini-birthday parade (maskless), on going to Balmoral and then back to Sandringham/Wood Farm and she was pissed that staff wasn’t willing to travel to Sandringham for Christmas so she has to have Christmas at Windsor, etc. So when you consider this is where she’s decided, “oh so the pandemic is real, I should cancel the event where I mingle with the peons” it does look kind of petty.
but objectively, I do think canceling these events was the right call, even if just to set a good example.
I agree. I think they could have made it work, but it would have required staff to come to Windsor, so maybe the extra travel would have been ill-advised.
I agree. I think she is a petty woman, but I don’t think that’s what’s going on here. In addition to concerns about travel to Windsor, pulling off an in-person gift exchange would require some creative thinking, planning, masks, etc, all while trying to adhere to gathering limits. Liz & the courtiers are anything but creative planners, plus we know she likes to do things exactly the same way year after year, decade after decade. A workaround just wasn’t going to happen. The staff still get their gifts. It’s fine.
The Tesco puddings, though–now THAT is a bad look.
No kidding. One of the richest women in the world went Walmart for the fruit cakes. I bet F&M were crying over losing that contract. They probably sold her 1000+ fruitcakes every year, which is peanuts compared to the priceless advertising of having the queen buy them. It would have literally been millions of dollars in advertising if they were forced to pay for that publicity.
@Ohpioneer, I’m also confused by the response. Canceling the gifts because the Queen isn’t giving them out would be petty But people are still getting their gifts and canceling an event where an old woman interacts with many people outside her bubble seems like a good thing.
This was the woman who was handing out medals when she had the norovirus. It takes a long time to get anything into that equine, bullet-proof skull of hers.
One of her dining halls is so big, they could EASILY sit down, 10-15 FEET apart. Even setting up tables outside, again…grounds SO BIG they could be well over soc. distanced lol. Still…I get it is the SIZE of the gathering, eating, masks off.
As far as her “gift giving”….JFC woman, give these people a friggin’ CHECK this year!! I’m sure they (or their family members they may be helping) could use it instead of a “trinket” with YOUR initials on it. If she *really* gave a sh!t about thanking her staff for ALL that they sacrificed for her, esp. THIS year, she COULD have it outside, with her surrounded by plexiglass, and the rank and file filing past, masked. She just couldn’t shake hands.
This is a Queen who was NOWHERE to be seen when all this was first happening. How can they say now she was a “calming presence” at the start of the pandemic?? I remember how everyone was asking where the hell *was* she, and *why wasn’t she* going on-air to address the nation.
She pissed none of these people would sacrifice their families to quarantine with her for months on end so she can keep being selfish.
That is why she cancelled.
Of COURSE she is. And I don’t think she can understand it, in ANY way shape or form.
But I am SO GLAD they did revolt!!
Giving gifts with her initials on it. Ugh. That’s like when your office give you some otherwise useful or nice looking gift that has a huge company logo on it so you can’t really use or display the item because it went from being beautiful champagne glasses or a pretty trinket box to a constant reminder of your work, a big shiny advertisement for your company, and a not so subtle way for the company to try to guilt you into loyalty every time you look at it.
But but but……she spends her own money!!!!!
This would have been the perfect year to just cut a check to all the staffers. Seriously.
I have gotten a ton of flack over the years for giving cash and later gift cards to people. I was told in was impersonal. Naw, I am comfortable enough with my ego not to have someone fawn over me when I give them a gift. Unlike Petty Betty.
Especially a gift you may never use.
RIGHT ???!!!!
Cash allows you to do whatever you want. And that makes me happy.
Yeah, money is best. We have a small business and I never make a big deal about Holiday parties or any other stuff, birthdays etc. But we pay our employees more than our competitors, give them ample paid time off and make sure to help with insurance.
So far nobody has complained yet that we don’t give out engraved picture frames for Christmas.
Tiffany, you and I must’ve been typing the same thing at the same time 😊
Yeah, last thing I’d want from her this year is a piece of crap she gets wholesale, on top of the cheap wages she pays (feeling you are having the PRIVILEGE of working your ass off for her!)
At my job gifts of cash can create tax issues so food is given
Changed the Christmas Puddings from Fortnum and Mason to Tesco ‘in a bid to save money’? Please! The whole reason to go to Fortnum and Mason is because it’s special – like it’s a lovely ‘special treat.’ Tesco – not so much! I don’t know the exact equivalent in the US but that’s like changing from a lovely, boutique, gourmet place to swinging by the Piggly Wiggly just before it closes instead and being all ‘I was thinking of yooouuuuuu!’ Bah Humbug indeed.
They switched the Christmas pudding from Fortum & Mason to Tesco? Yikes. That’s like going from Saks/William Sonoma/Erewhon/Whole Foods to Walmart. Petty indeed.
Right decision in my opinion. At least staff will still receive a gift.
The Queen has a guaranteed income and even got bailed out this year but she gives her staff gifts from Tesco?
Petty and cheap Betty. What a freaking Scrooge she is.
Yup, she got a bailout, while the Tories voted against giving needy kids food over school break. And what does Brenda do? Cheap out on the pudding. Gmafb.
Good grief … a Christmas pudding from Tesco? She’d be better getting them at Aldi, would save her more and it would at least taste halfway decent. If I was in her employment and didnt need the job I’d tell her to stick it up her ars….
I think Christmas pudding is just vile, especially store bought. Taste’s like soggy spongy fruit cake. Also don’t like mince pies. Maybe you have to grow up eating it. As for the rest, well Covid is still raging and we all have to adapt.
You should try the Harrods one, if you’re in the UK. I thought I hated it too until I tried that one. I was working across the road from them two years ago and picked one up on sale right before the day. The Dream.
My MIL has been trying to get me to like it for 20 years now. I do like a dark rum soaked fruit cake ( West Indian style) and Christmas trifle, but you can keepthe boiled dessert, lol.
Sorry. Can’t stop laughing at the idea of Kate sitting down to a full turkey lunch. Two bites then she puts her napkin on top.
IMHO personally handing out gifts is all for the givers ego. I’ve been on the receiving end of that situation and it’s all about the giver feeling good about
him/herself. Strictly referring to a work situation.
THERE IS A PANDEMIC! We all should be bending over backwards to keep each other safe. The Queen was right to cancel, we should all be cancelling to prevent more deaths.