The Queen ‘will make Windsor Castle her main home and won’t return to Buckingham Palace this year’

The Queen is set to make Windsor Castle her main home and won’t resume residence at Buckingham Palace this year, according to a royal source.

Her Majesty, 94, would like to ‘commute’ to London for engagements if it is safe to do so, the Sunday Times reports.

It is believed the Queen’s absence from Buckingham Palace will be her longest during her 68-year reign. 

The Queen would usually go back to the premises in October following her summer break in Balmoral, but instead, she will reportedly return to Windsor Castle where she self-isolated with the Duke of Edinburgh from March 19 prior to their Scottish holiday.

A royal source said: ‘There is a desire to get Buckingham Palace up and running again as a working palace, but only if all the relevant advice suggests that it is appropriate to do so.’ 

It is believed that proposals are being reviewed for how the Queen could safely attend commemorations at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday in November.

But Her Majesty apparently won’t be returning to Buckingham Palace again until the threat from COVID-19 is extinguished.

However, it is thought that the Queen will be spending her usual Christmas break at Sandringham in Norfolk. 

She has reportedly been told that the close-knit ‘bubble’ of household staff who have been working with her since March is still the safest way to reduce the chance of infection. 

It comes after reports that Her Majesty may not be allowed to return to her public duties due to the risk of catching Covid-19 ‘for years’ to come. 

Royal biographer Andrew Morton, 66, told The Sun in May that he feared the Queen may never be able to return to her regular duties and will most likely be seen on TV or video links rather than in public. 

He told the paper: ‘It’s terribly sad but I can’t see how the Queen can resume her usual job. The Covid-19 virus isn’t going away soon and will be with us for months, if not years.

‘It would be far too risky for the Queen to start meeting people on a regular basis.’

The writer, who penned Diana: Her True Story in 1992, added that while the royal enjoyed meeting the public, such gatherings would pose a risk to both herself and Prince Philip.

The Queen has said in the past that she feels she has ‘to be seen to be believed’, so the measures are expected to be felt deeply by the monarch. 

Meanwhile, Buckingham Palace remains closed to visitors amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

The opulent State Rooms in the London residence are usually only open to the public for 10 weeks each summer and selected dates during winter and spring.

But last month, the Royal Collection Trust made the decision to keep Buckingham Palace closed ‘because of the operational challenges of social distancing’ in their palaces and properties.