Queen Elizabeth Announces Changes to Her Schedule Amid Coronavirus Concerns
Queen Elizabeth will reschedule two previously planned visits around the UK due to concerns over the coronavirus, Buckingham Palace has revealed. The Palace noted that the Queen was expected to keep up with her audiences, which include the Queen meeting with one or more people at the Palace, though other events would "be reviewed on an ongoing basis in line with the appropriate advice."
Read the announcement in full below.
As a sensible precaution and for practical reasons in the current circumstances, changes are being made to The Queen’s diary commitments in the coming weeks.
In consultation with the Medical Household and Government, Her Majesty’s forthcoming visits to Cheshire and Camden will be rescheduled. Audiences will continue as usual. Other events will be reviewed on an ongoing basis in line with the appropriate advice.
As COVID-19 has been shown to disproportionately impact the elderly, the 93-year-old British monarch certainly falls into the virus's high-risk category.
News of the Queen's altered schedule comes on the heels of another royal postponement: Clarence House revealed this morning that Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall would reschedule their mid-March tour of Jordan, Cyprus, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. "Owing to the unfolding situation with the Coronavirus pandemic, The British Government has asked Their Royal Highnesses to postpone their spring tour to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus and Jordan," a spokesperson said this morning.
The British royals are hardly the only royal family to change their itineraries in light of coronavirus concerns. Queen Margrethe of Denmark has canceled her 80th birthday celebrations, King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway are self-quarantining after returning from Jordan, and Queen Letizia and King Felipe VI of Spain have been tested for the virus after coming into contact with a government official who tested positive for COVID-19. Today their negative test results were shared publicly.
