PRINCE Charles and Camilla have arrived at Windsor chapel for a Christmas Day service as the royal family are forced to spend the day apart.
The Queen missed the service but will be joined by the royal couple and other members of the royal family for lunch.
It is understood the Queen’s absence from the service is a personal choice and follows a precautionary approach seen over the last six months.
It will be the 95-year-old monarch’s first Christmas since the death of Prince Philip in April.
The Queen axed her big family bash at Sandringham and a lunch with 50 members of her extended family due to Covid fears.
Camilla, dressed in a blue and turquoise chequered jacket and matching hat, wished a “Happy Christmas” to the media as the couple walked to the chapel.
Also at Windsor will be Princesses Beatrice, 33, and Eugenie, 31, their husbands Edo Mapelli Mozzi and Jack Brooksbank and children August and Sienna.
Mike and Zara Tindall, and their children Mia, Lena and Lucas, spent the night at Windsor too.
Prince Charles, 73, and Camilla, 74, earlier this week revealed they would join the Queen for Christmas Day and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester are also expected.
But Prince William and Kate, both 39, and children George, Charlotte and Louis, will be in Norfolk, and joined by members of the Middleton family.
Princess Anne, 71, has also been ruled out as she is in isolation after husband Tim Lawrence tested positive for Covid-19.
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The family will have a Christmas lunch before sitting together to watch the Queen’s address on TV.
Her Majesty has been on “light duties” since spending a night in hospital more than two months ago.
Last Christmas was the first in 32 years that Her Majesty had not been at Sandringham for the holiday.
She spent the big day shielding at Windsor with her late husband Prince Philip, who died in April aged 99.
And this year’s scenes look set to be rather similar, with the Firm avoiding contact with as many people as possible as daily infections in the UK again soar past 90,000.
The monarch will later address the nation in her traditional Christmas message, which is expected to be deeply personal.
Yesterday Buckingham Palace released a photograph of the monarch taken during the recording of her annual festive address, which was filmed last week.
Alongside his is a photograph of her and Prince Philip taken in 2007 at Broadlands, once the home of Philip’s uncle Lord Mountbatten.
They spent some of their honeymoon and the photo recreated their famous honeymoon picture from 1947.
