new Delhi: Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is unlikely to stay at Buckingham Palace in London again, choosing her Windsor Castle residence in Berkshire as her base, according to a media report on Sunday.
The 95-year-old monarch has been based at the castle, traditionally only a weekend retreat, since she moved there in 2020 for isolation during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to ‘The Sunday Times’, she now prefers it as her permanent home and main official residence, in contrast to the palace in central London, which was her home for most of her 70-year reign.
Buckingham Palace, which has been the official London residence of the British monarchs since 1837, is in the middle of a 10-year, £36.9 million renovation program.
The Queen had originally planned to move out of her private apartment only temporarily and move to another part of the palace while her quarters were renovated.
But his 96th birthday falls on 21 April and, having been used to working away from Windsor Castle for two years, he is increasingly keen on the idea of living more permanently.
Reservations do not expire until 2027. Continuing, it is not really a place to stay for long, the newspaper quoted a royal source as saying.
Senior royal sources also say the Queen, who has recently recovered from COVID, will make future engagements primarily in Windsor to ease her travels.
Windsor Castle was previously only the Queen’s escape home and her residence for Easter and the Royal Ascot races in June.
But the newspaper says it is understood the monarch has come to prefer life at the Castle, where she has spent much of the past two years with her husband, the late Duke of Edinburgh, since leaving London.
This means his son and heir Charles, Prince of Wales and wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, are set to be the next members of the royal family to take up residence at Buckingham Palace.
The 73-year-old royal is believed to prefer his current London home, Clarence House, but Buckingham Palace is likely to remain the monarchy’s headquarters once he takes over as king.
As the newspaper reports, he plans to give the public greater access to the palace and other official and private royal residences.
Buckingham Palace, a grand building made up of 775 rooms, has been the setting for some of the most memorable moments of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, including the royal newlyweds kissing on the balcony.
The Queen’s next planned engagement outside Windsor Castle is the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey in London on March 14, her first official away from the royal residence in five months.