MASKS, SANITISING SPRAY AND FAMILY ‘BAN’ AS QUEEN GETS A BALMORAL ‘BUBBLE’
THE Queen is to spend the summer in a ‘Balmoral bubble’ to minimise the risk of her contracting coronavirus.
She is due to arrive at her Royal Deeside estate next week and unprecedented measures have been put in place amid the pandemic.
While the Queen and Prince Philip will live as usual in Balmoral Castle, other members of the Royal Family will be barred from the main house and will stay in various cottages on the estate.
All of those properties have had a deep clean ahead of the Queen’s arrival.
A ‘bubble’ of the Queen and Prince Philip’s key staff – who are all regularly tested for the virus – will be tending to them, including master of the household Vice-Admiral Tony Johnstone-Burt and private secretary Sir Edward Young.
The select team will travel from Windsor Castle, where the monarch has been staying during lockdown.
Staff will be issued with face masks and strict social distancing will be observed
Regular temperature checks will also be carried out.
Any family gatherings will take place outside.
The highlight of the Queen’s holiday calendar, the Braemar Highland Games, which takes place every September, has been cancelled.
It is also unlikely that any of the Royals will attend their usual Sunday church service at Crathie Kirk. Royal author Ingrid Seward said: ‘Creating this bubble at Balmoral and all the logistics involved cannot be under-estimated. It’s really a major operation.
‘A chartered plane is the usual option for travel but this time I understand the Queen and Prince Philip may fly by helicopter from Windsor to Balmoral, minimising the safety risk of going through airports and car journeys.
‘There will not be the usual stream of guests. It is Balmoral-lite.’
But she added: ‘The Queen is a creature of habit so she will try and do as much of what she usually does at Balmoral.’
A source close to Balmoral said: ‘Her Majesty will be able to go for walks, visit her ponies and ride if she wishes. After Windsor it will seem quite an escape to a place she dearly loves and feels really free.’
Balmoral has also been closed to visitors – and tourists contribute about half of the 50,000-acre estate’s £3 million annual running costs.
While the Duke and Duchess of Sussex reportedly accepted an invitation in March from the Queen to holiday with her at Balmoral this summer – which would have been their son Archie’s first visit to Scotland– their trip from California seems unlikely.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: ‘The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh plan to move to Balmoral
Castle in early August to commence their annual summer stay.
‘All arrangements will be in line with the relevant guidelines and advice.’