Buckingham Palace's Changing of the Guard ceremony is one of the many reasons tourists flock to the Queen's official residence. However, Queen Elizabeth is putting a stop to this pomp display for the meantime to deter people from crowding in public during this critical time.
According to Daily Mail, there will be no Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace ceremony in the coming weeks. Usually, a band plays the music while the guards whistle for this event. However, a source from the army said this will be scaled back, sans the bells and whistles, with the coronavirus looming over Britain.
On Friday, March 20, the Changing of the Guard ceremony was supposed to have the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards and the Irish Guards 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards Corps of Drums. A spokesperson from the army said that the guards are still swapping places but it will no longer involve this whole production.
Meanwhile, the royal family is reportedly speaking with their team of doctors on a daily basis as the coronavirus pandemic continues to threaten the health of Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Camilla, as well as the Queen's cousins. The Queen is currently staying in Windsor to heed to the government's guidelines that those over 70 must limit their movement and face-to-face meetings with crowds of people to prevent an infection.
According to Dr. Anna Hemming, who was Buckingham Palace's in-house doctor for seven years, many members of the royal family are indeed in the high risk group for COVID-19. She said that Her Majesty must be mindful of the number of people she meets at a time and that the royal staff, down to the footmen and housekeepers, must also take precautionary measures.
Joining Queen Elizabeth in isolation at Windsor is Prince Philip. On the other hand, Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, are not moving some place to distance themselves from the crowd. Instead, Prince Charles is staying put in Clarence House where he has set up his digital office. Along with his staff, Prince Charles will work from home and have virtual meetings to keep his projects going.
The U.K. government hopes that the public will follow their call to limit movement and self-isolate. As with the rest of the world, the goal is to flatten the curve and slow down the spread of the virus while everyone waits for a cure or a vaccine against COVID-19.
