Queen Elizabeth Has Been Told to Stop Drinking, Report Claims
When you're the queen, you answer to no one — except, apparently, your team of physicians.
Queen Elizabeth II's doctors have advised her to stop drinking alcohol in the lead-up to the celebration of her Platinum Jubilee on February 6, 2022 — the event marking her 70th anniversary as Queen of the United Kingdom — according to Vanity Fair, which cited two first-person sources. "The alcohol has gone," one source stated, "her doctors want to make sure she is as fit and healthy as possible."
Despite not being much of a public drinker, the Queen has long been known to enjoy alcoholic beverages, though reports on the extent of her consumption have varied wildly — including a supposedly misreported story in 2017 that she drank four cocktails every day.
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For its part, Vanity Fair writes that, up until the recent medical advice, the Queen had a drink "most evenings" — typically a glass of sweet wine with dinner and then often a dry martini in the evenings, as well as the occasional glass of wine before bed. It's also been regularly reported that the Queen is a fan of Dubonnet and gin.
"The Queen has been told to give up her evening drink which is usually a martini," a family friend told the magazine. "It's not really a big deal for her, she is not a big drinker but it seems a trifle unfair that at this stage in her life she's having to give up one of very few pleasures."
But even without drinking, alcohol is still part of royal life: The Queen has two different gins produced by her residences: Both Buckingham Palace and Sandringham House have their own official take on the spirit. The Queen has also given her blessing to official sparkling wines and beer.
Plus, even speculation on the Queen's alcohol consumption can grab headlines in a world fascinated with British royally: Earlier this week, the simple unconfirmed suggestion that an underground tunnel exists from the former royal residence St. James's Palace to a posh martini bar was deemed newsworthy.
As for the Queen's doctor-imposed Dry October-January, until the monarch's medical guidelines are loosened, we'll be happy to raise a glass on her behalf.
