After spending the majority of the pandemic at Windsor Castle, her Majesty will make the move permanent and will not return to living at Buckingham Palace
- The Queen is said to have officially moved to Windsor Castle and is set to never live in the iconic royal residence again.
- The Queen and Prince Philip initially relocated to Windsor Castle at the start of the pandemic, and following his death, the Queen remained there.
- This royal news (opens in new tab) comes after it was revealed that Kate Middleton and Prince William are looking forward to some ‘child-free time’ during the upcoming royal tour (opens in new tab).
The Queen will reportedly remain at Windsor Castle (opens in new tab) and will "never live" at Buckingham Palace again.
Her Majesty and her late husband Prince Philip (opens in new tab) initially relocated temporarily to their Berkshire home at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.
However, following his death and ongoing refurbishments at Buckingham Palace, it’s been reported the Queen will stay at Windsor Castle permanently, despite famously living in the London palace for the majority of her reign.
Windsor Castle holds very special memories for the Queen and it is where she has spent her last two Christmases after restrictions forced the royal family to scrap their traditional plans at Sandringham (opens in new tab).
Royal author Hugo Vickers told The Sunday Times (opens in new tab), “Windsor is the place she loves. She has her memories with Prince Philip there, she has her ponies there and family nearby.”
The monarch's health is also thought to be a contributing factor to the move, with Her Majesty suffering multiple health scares recently, including a painful back sprain (opens in new tab) and testing positive for Covid-19 (opens in new tab). Thankfully the Queen is now on the mend, after showing ‘extraordinary courage and no fuss (opens in new tab)’ over testing positive for the virus.
While Buckingham Palace is the traditional home for the monarch, Vickers explains that the move "makes sense" for the Queen.
The iconic palace will become the full-time home of the monarch once again when Prince Charles becomes King (opens in new tab). As it was reported that William and Kate could inherit the Queen's home (opens in new tab) when she dies, as Charles is set to reject it, to instead live at Buckingham Palace.
A source told the Daily Mail (opens in new tab) that Charles views Buckingham Palace as "the most distinct symbol of the monarchy in the heart of the nation’s capital and therefore it must be his home, he also thinks it would be strange to have Buckingham Palace without royals living there.”