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Like last year, there will be no garden parties held at Buckingham Palace in 2021. Queen Elizabeth has canceled all of her garden parties for this year. A palace spokesman said (via HOLA! USA’s sister brand HELLO!): “The decision has been taken that garden parties will not take place in 2021.” Rebecca English, The Daily Mail’s royal editor, reported on Tuesday, “Unsurprisingly, Buckingham Palace have taken the decision that garden parties will not take place in 2021. With deadlines approaching for committing to their go-ahead, it wasn’t possible to plan how they would be feasible taking into account Covid-19 precautions.”
The news comes one day after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that England would be entering its third national lockdown to combat the new variant of the coronavirus.
The Queen normally “welcomes over 30,000 guests to spend a relaxed summer afternoon in the beautiful gardens of Buckingham Palace or the Palace of Holyroodhouse,” the royal family’s website states. “Garden Parties are an important way for The Queen to speak to a broad range of people from all walks of life, all of whom have made a positive impact in their community.”
Her Majesty was forced to cancel last year’s garden parties due to the health crisis. The Queen, 94, is currently at Windsor Castle, where she and Prince Philip celebrated Christmas “quietly” together.
Ahead of 2021, the monarch released a hopeful New Year’s Eve message, which was taken from a speech she gave in April of 2020 addressing the coronavirus: “We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again’ - Her Majesty The Queen.”