Prince Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, Camila, attended this Saturday the traditional Christmas mass in the Chapel of St. George of Windsor Castle, to which Queen Elizabeth II has decided not to attend this year as a precaution against the elevated cases of coronavirus in the UK.
After the ceremony, the heir to the throne plans to spend the day with his mother, who has also resigned, for the second year in a row, to travel to her country residence in Sandringham, in the north of England.
This afternoon, the main British channels will broadcast the annual speech of the 95-year-old British sovereign, which this time will focus on paying tribute to her former husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, who died at the age of 99 in April.
Princess Anne, 71, and the queen’s only daughter will not join the rest of the royal family this Saturday, given that she has had to isolate herself after her husband, 66-year-old Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence, had tested positive for coronavirus.
Prince William and his wife Catherine have also not come to Windsor to avoid risks related to the coronavirus and celebrate Christmas in Norfolk (east of England) together with the Middleton family.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of the Anglican Church, for his part officiated a Christmas Eucharist in which he paid tribute to the volunteers who have helped refugees this year trying to reach Britain from France with small boats.
At the ceremony at Canterbury Cathedral, Justin Welby praised the “great generosity” of those volunteers and stressed that “the Christmas story teaches that we should treat others as ourselves.