The British Queen Elizabeth II is cautious about spending Christmas at Windsor Castle again this year.

She had originally planned to travel by helicopter to her private country estate, Sandringham.

The family has gathered there for the festival every year since 1988.

The decision to avoid the risk of corona infection at a family celebration with up to 50 guests was made “personally” by the 95-year-old queen after “careful consideration”, according to court circles.

Gina Thomas

Features correspondent based in London.

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The platinum jubilee next year is said to have played a role.

The Queen, whose state of health gave cause for concern at the end of October, does not want to jeopardize her participation in the celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne.

Last week she had already canceled the larger pre-Christmas lunch that she usually has at Buckingham Palace.

Customs of the German ancestors

The traditional gathering of the Windsors in the Norfolk property acquired by the Queen's great-grandfather had to be canceled last year due to the pandemic. The monarch stayed with Prince Philip in a "corona bubble" at Windsor Castle. It is now reported from the palace that she will not spend the first Christmas alone without her husband, who died in April. Her son, Prince Andrew, who lives in Windsor, his former wife Sarah Ferguson and their two young daughters, as well as Prince Edward, the Queen's youngest son, and his family are expected to be among the relatives expected over the Christmas period - taking into account, as the source points out, "all fair guidelines".

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge should stick to their plans to spend the festive season with their three children in their country house near Sandringham.

Christmas at Windsor Castle is nothing new to the Queen.

For years the family celebrated at their ancestral castle.

To this day, the Queen sticks to the customs that her German ancestors introduced in England.

The Christmas tree became naturalized after Georg III's wife, who came from Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

caused a sensation in the British aristocracy when she set up a yew tree at Windsor Castle in 1800, which was decorated with candy, almonds, fruit and toys wrapped in paper packets and lit by wax candles.

Prince Albert emphasized the tradition.

Every year he ordered spruce from his home town of Coburg.

With the help of the press, which published illustrations of the royal Christmas tree after 1845, the custom also caught on with the general public.

While most Brits unpack their "stockings" on the morning of Christmas Day, the Windsors give birth on Christmas Eve according to German tradition.