Royal Heartbreak: Queen Elizabeth II Makes Devastating Decision Amid Crisis
Due to the pandemic, Queen Elizabeth II had to make another sacrifice to make sure that she will not contract the COVID-19.
The royal family news these days seem to be decreasing since the ongoing pandemic has prevented the members of the monarchy to actually go out and do public engagements.
With that said, for the first time throughout her now 68-year reign, Her Majesty decided not to attend the Royal Ascot horse racing meet due to the coronavirus pandemic.
For the past three months, the 94-year-old monarch has been isolating with Prince Philip at Windsor Castle, making her just around 20 minutes away from the Royal Ascot venue. However, attending it will definitely put her life at risk.
Instead of driving to the venue, Queen Elizabeth II, as an owner, will watch the Royal Ascot parade virtually through TV. The director of racing and public affairs at Ascot, Nick Smith, also announced that they plan to make necessary adjustments to push through the occassion even without the spectators.
"Whilst the ultimate experience of being at Royal Ascot sadly isn't possible this year, we hope that what we are planning will make ownership at home as special as possible," Smith said, per Independent. "It's certainly a bit strange, but we're now embracing the situation we're in and getting excited about the week ahead."
Usually, the racecourse would welcome around 300,000 fans during the five-day showpiece. But because of the coronavirus pandemic this 2020, only 500 people are allowed to be on track each day to prevent the further spread of the disease.
For the fans who will fail to dress and attend the event personally, the Ascot organization instead encouraged them to to take it to social media to share their selfies while wearing their shirts with the Royal Ascot's unofficial trademark.
As a racing-mad monarch, Queen Elizabeth II never let any issue stop her from attending the Royal Ascot. She already faced several challenges in the past few years, starting with the year of Foot and Mouth disease in 2001 and the royal meeting's move north to York during Ascot's redevelopment in 2005.
Unfortunately, due to the occurrence of the COVID-19, Queen Elizabeth II had to set aside the event since her health is the monarchy's priority right now.
Queen Elizabeth II's Absence In Other Events
Before the COVID-19 crisis boomed, the Queen left London to put herself and Prince Philip in quarantine at Windsor Castle. According to the Times, she will remain in Windsor with her husband indefinitely.
"The Queen won't do anything which goes against the advice of people in her [age] category, and she's going to take all the appropriate advice," a source told the Times last May.
Because of the crisis and the social distancing measures put into place, the Queen postponed her royal events, such as the Order of the Garter Service and other garden parties.
Fortunately, Queen Elizabeth II was able to hold the Trooping of Colour this year, though it was more scaled down to safeguard herself from COVID-19.
