This Christmas, Queen Elizabeth II is honoring her late husband, Prince Philip. The 95-year-old monarch was spotted wearing the sapphire chrysanthemum brooch she wore for a photocall on her honeymoon in 1947 in the first look at her Christmas Day address. The piercing blue brooch was fastened to a brilliant red garment worn by the queen to mark the season’s celebrations.
While this will be the queen’s 69th Christmas Day broadcast, it will also be her first without her 73-year-old husband, who died in April at the age of 99.
The queen has worn the brooch on several occasions throughout their marriage, including their diamond wedding anniversary in 2007, when she wore it fastened to a pale blue frock during a tour to the Broadlands, and their 70th wedding anniversary in 2017.
In addition to the brooch, the queen placed a photo of herself and the late prince on her desk in Windsor Castle’s White Drawing Room, where she will be celebrating the holidays. During her annual address, she always has various family photos on her desk, but this year the photo of the couple shines out.
While the queen’s annual speech will be televised across the United Kingdom, individuals outside the country will be able to watch it via the royal family’s YouTube channel.
Despite fears that the queen would remain isolated following the cancellation of her family’s pre-Christmas lunch as a “precautionary” decision in light of the rising highly transmissible COVID-19 omicron variant, “Prince Charles and Camilla will be joining Her Majesty for Christmas at Windsor,” a Palace insider told ET on Thursday.
Queen Elizabeth
ET has learned that Prince Edward and Sophie, as well as their children, Lady Louise and Viscount James, and Prince Andrew’s family, all of whom live near Windsor Castle, intend to meet the queen over the holidays.
With 8-year-old Prince George, 6-year-old Princess Charlotte, and 3-year-old Prince Louis, Prince William and Kate Middleton will stay at Anmer Hall on the Sandringham Estate. They’ve spent years at Buckle bury, Berkshire, near Windsor Castle, with Kate’s parents. The Cambridges have yet to make a formal statement about their plans. “Details are still being worked out how the transfer to Windsor Castle will affect Christmas arrangements,” a source close to the family told ET.
The queen has elected to spend the holidays at home in Windsor for the second year in a row. The announcement comes just one day after Princess Anne, the queen’s daughter, was forced to isolate when her husband, Timothy Laurence, tested positive for COVID.
Her Majesty has canceled several engagements in recent months owing to a variety of health issues, and while she has since resumed some of her responsibilities, many of them have been virtual, and she has canceled several of her scheduled appearances to maintain her health.
