Queen to be joined by Charles and Camilla on Christmas Day

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will be spending Christmas in Norfolk with members of Middleton family

Queen Elizabeth II has decided not to gather the royal family for Christmas at the royal Sandringham estate in eastern England, amid concerns about the fast-spreading omicron variant. (AP)

Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles will spend Christmas Day with the Queen, a Clarence House spokesman has said.

This year mark’s the monarch’s first Christmas without her late husband, the Duke of Edinburgh. The Queen has taken the decision to remain at Windsor for the occasion, as opposed to making her annual festive trip to Sandringham.

The Queen traditionally hosts her family at Sandringham in Norfolk over Christmas, and they are watched by crowds as they attend church.

She will, however, be joined by members of her family over the festive period, including a visit from the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall on 25 December.

Meanwhile, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will be spending Christmas in Norfolk in the company of some members of the Middleton family, a spokesperson for Kensington Palace has announced.

The Queen took the decision to remain at Windsor as a “precautionary” measure following the recent surge in Covid-19 case numbers in light of the emergence of the new omicron variant of the virus.

Last year, the Queen and Philip also spent the festive period at Windsor.

It comes after it was revealed the Queen had cancelled her usual pre-Christmas lunch with members of her extended family, originally meant to have taken place on Tuesday.

The monarch has spent a large majority of the past year sheilding. The Queen and Philip remained in Windsor over the course of the various lockdown this year.

The 95-year-old monarch lost the duke, her husband of over than 73 years, on 9 April , with his funeral held within the castle’s confines during coronavirus restrictions.

In October this year, the Queen was admitted to hospital overnight for preliminary investigations and ordered by her doctors to rest.