Last year, the festivities at Windsor Castle began on November 30 but this year they are scheduled to start on December 3 a day after the lockdown is due to end. The annual celebrations, “Christmas at Windsor Castle,” will span from December 3, 2020 until January 4, 2021.
To suit the Christmas season, a 20-foot-high Nordmann Fir tree will be installed and decorated in St George’s Hall.
Palace staff will put up over 20,000 Christmas lights as well as baubles and other ornaments.
For dinner, a table will be set in the State Dining Room complete with silver cutlery from the Grand Service acquired by George IV.
The Queen gave her famous annual Christmas speech in Windsor Castle’s Green Drawing Room last year.
The delay comes after a royal expert revealed the Queen was left feeling “a bit down” after the coronavirus lockdown.
Speaking to 9Honey royal commentator Katie Nicholl said: “I remember speaking to a very well-placed source at the time who said while the Queen was, like the rest of the country, was very down about the pandemic and not being able to work [as usual] and being in lockdown, the real upside for her was the time she got to spend with Philip.”
During lockdown the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have spent more time with each other than they have since the beginning of their marriage from 1949 to 1951.
Ms Nicholl added: “While some couples may have found that intensity of being together stretching or testing, they clearly got on very well… they really enjoyed that time together.”
Another Palace source added: “Nothing has been resolved as staff are still refusing to quarantine from their families. So it’s looking almost certain they can’t have Christmas inside the big house at Sandringham.
“It is possible, of course, to arrange a smaller one for Philip and the Queen at Wood Farm cottage.
“But moving the Queen and Duke to Windsor, where they know the bubble works, makes it simpler to start planning to stay there for Christmas.”
Prince William and Prince Charles both caught coronavirus early on during the epidemic.
