Queen Elizabeth Won’t Be Living At Buckingham Palace Anymore

Aside from the sound of sugar cubes plopping in a hot mug of tea, the Spice Girls, and Austin Powers, there’s nothing more British than a tourist pulling up to Buckingham Palace in a double-decker red bus and wondering out loud, “Hey, you think we’ll see Her Majesty waving from the window? I’m gonna get my camera ready just in case.” But that won’t be a thing anymore, because Queen Elizabeth doesn’t live there anymore. She just doesn’t want to be commuting back and forth from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle, which is her preferred place of residence.

By all official accounts, The Queen has pretty much recovered from COVID-19, which she was diagnosed with last month. She’s reportedly been visiting with family, and she’s started doing virtual engagements again. Those little official Zoom calls have been happening at Windsor Castle, The Queen’s palace away from palace. Windsor Castle is located in Windsor, which is about an hour’s drive from Buckingham Palace, located in the middle of London. A 60-minute commute is no walk in the park for the best of us, and Liz is almost 96 years old. So it’s understandable that she might want to sit tight in one place for the remainder of her years. via The Times UK:

It is understood the monarch has come to prefer life at the castle, where she has spent much of the past two years since leaving London to isolate with the Duke of Edinburgh at the start of the pandemic. Windsor was previously only the Queen’s weekend home and her residence for Easter and Royal Ascot week in June.

Queen Elizabeth has lived at Buckingham Palace for the majority of her 70-year reign as Queen, and it’s also where most of her family has lived when they were reigning. Buckingham Palace is home to all the big Royal Family events, like when they all gather on the balcony and wave to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s birthday, aka the annual trooping the colour ceremony, or Remembrance Day ceremonies. It’s also where The Queen presents honors like knighthoods or OBEs. It’s likely that it will be soon home to Future King Charles and Future Queen Consort Camilla. They currently live at Clarence House, but it shouldn’t be too stressful of a move. Clarence House is across the street from Buckingham Palace.

Anyone who is suspicious of this sudden move, no pun intended, will likely wonder if The Queen is a-ok over at Windsor Castle. Especially since she’s had her fair share of health issues previous to that COVID diagnosis. But People magazine reported earlier today that The Queen is back to work, shaking hands and accepting bows and curtsies. And her first visit was with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. This was her first in-person meeting since getting COVID.

🇨🇦 This afternoon The Queen received the Prime Minister of Canada, @JustinTrudeau, for an Audience at Windsor Castle.

🔗 Find out more about Audiences – https://t.co/OY2cqSIHTv pic.twitter.com/1FsEiS7Ati

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) March 7, 2022

Moving out of the home and office you’ve kept for more than seven decades into your weekend country home definitely sounds like retirement. But as you can see from that picture above, she’s still working! So don’t bring her a drink and her slippers just yet. It’s just that Buckingham Palace isn’t her thing anymore. So for right now, the only reason to go to Buckingham Palace is to see those guards with the hats that look like a grizzly bear’s left nut, and maybe to see a desperate-for-attention Prince Andrew waving from the window. Although I’m sure that wave will be met with many tourists saying, “Okay, we’ve seen the guards, let’s get out of here before I lose my lunch.”

Pic: INSTAR