Over the weekend, Roya Nikkah at the Times had a big exclusive, and one which made Queen Elizabeth sound like an elderly dog who had been adopted by a family in the country. Nikkah’s tweet: “The Queen will never live again at Buckingham Palace, her main residence for seven decades. Her Majesty has decided to make Windsor Castle her forever home and will do her future official engagements ‘predominantly’ from Windsor.” We’re talking about a 95-year-old woman’s “forever home” huh. Anyway, most of this was known or assumed already – a years-long renovation of Buckingham Palace is currently taking place, which was one of the reasons why QEII moved to Windsor in the first place. The other reason was the pandemic, and it was easier for staff and security to create a protective bubble around the Queen in Windsor. In any case, Windsor is where she’ll spend her final months/years.

The Queen will never live again at Buckingham Palace, making Windsor Castle her permanent home and main official residence. It is understood the monarch, 95, who has lived at the palace for most of her 70-year reign, has come to prefer life at the castle, where she has spent much of the past two years since leaving London to isolate with the Duke of Edinburgh at the start of the pandemic. Windsor was previously only the Queen’s weekend home and her residence for Easter and Royal Ascot week in June.

It means the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall are set to be the next members of the royal family to take up residence at Buckingham Palace as King and Queen Consort.

For most of her record-breaking reign, the Queen has acknowledged that conducting the sovereign’s business from Buckingham Palace has been important symbolically and for the smooth running of affairs of state. But as her 96th birthday approaches, and having successfully “worked from home” at Windsor for two years, like many of her subjects she has now chosen a different work-life balance for the future.

Buckingham Palace, which has been the official London residence of British sovereigns since 1837, is midway through a ten-year, £369 million reservicing programme. The Queen originally planned only to temporarily move out of her private apartments, and relocate to another part of the palace while her quarters were renovated. After the refurbishment began, a senior royal official said: “The Queen, as you know, is immensely pragmatic and she wants to stay in the palace and she said: ‘Let me know where you would like me to go’ and she’ll go wherever she agrees is appropriate.”

But the monarch has changed her mind, now feeling more comfortable at the castle where she lived with Prince Philip until his death last April. She will return to London for occasional engagements, but is not thought to have spent a night at the palace since March 2020. A royal source said: “The reservicing does not end until 2027. While ongoing, it is not really a place to stay long-term.”

Senior royal sources also say the Queen, who recently recovered from Covid and has admitted to mobility issues, will “predominantly” undertake future engagements at Windsor, to reduce her travel. During a meeting at the castle last month with the incoming and outgoing defence services secretaries, the Queen was seen leaning on her walking stick and told her visitors: “As you can see, I can’t move.”

Courtiers say that while the Queen will now carefully pace herself with a combination of virtual and in-person engagements mostly at Windsor, she will be “visible” throughout the four-day national celebrations in June marking her Platinum Jubilee. “She will want to take part,” said an aide. Buckingham Palace will be at the heart of festivities, with the Queen and core members of her family set to appear on the balcony on June 2 for her official birthday parade, Trooping the Colour and at the “Platinum Party at the Palace” on June 4.

[From The Times]

I agree that if the Queen doesn’t want to move around between Windsor Castle and BP, she shouldn’t have to. It’s a little bit funny that everyone now has to make the trek to Windsor though – you could argue that BP was important simply because it was much more convenient for everyone else, and it was symbolically at the center of life in London. But it can’t be helped, especially with the years-long renovation.

Interestingly enough, Nikkah also reports that the Queen will keep up some of her “seasonal” movements this year, meaning she plans to go to Balmoral this summer, and she likely plans to go to Sandringham for Christmas, and into 2023. But after all of that careful Jubbly planning, it now looks like the Queen probably won’t attend many Jubbly events. They’ll be lucky to prop her up on the balcony.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.