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Queen and Prince Philip head to Balmoral from RAF Northolt for summer break following months of Windsor lockdown
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have left Windsor Castle and are en route to Scotland for their summer break at Balmoral.
The monarch and Philip are going ahead with their annual stay in the Highlands after spending the last four months at their Berkshire residence during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown.
It is the first time the 94-year-old Queen and Philip have travelled away from Windsor since relocating from Buckingham Palace and the Sandringham estate on March 19.
The head of state and Philip, 99, have been staying at Windsor with a reduced household – dubbed HMS Bubble – for their safety ever since.
While the Queen has been active throughout the pandemic, delivering two rare televised addresses to the nation just weeks apart, Philip's public appearances have been few and far between since he retired in 2017.
The Duke of Edinburgh attended a rare public engagement on July 22 to hand the keys of his role as Colonel-in-Chief of The Rifles to the Duchess of Cornwall at Windsor.
The royal pair were pictured arriving by car at RAF Northolt in west London ahead of their flight to Aberdeenshire this afternoon. They will then stay at Balmoral until early October.
The Queen had long been expected to go ahead with her visit – one of her favourite parts of the year – if it proved safe and logistically possible.
The royal couple, who have been married for more than 72 years, are expected to remain in Scotland through August and September.
Since lockdown began, the Queen has also celebrated her own birthday, Philip turning 99 and attended her granddaughter Princess Beatrice’s intimate wedding ceremony.
As the royals adapted to online appearances, the monarch took part in her first official video conference call as part of her public duties, speaking to carers with the Princess Royal on June 4.
She has also been holding her Privy Council meetings by video link and her weekly audiences with Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the phone.
On July, 17, she knighted Captain Sir Tom Moore in a special outdoor ceremony at the castle to honour the 100-year-old fundraising hero in what was her first face-to-face royal engagement with the public since March.
The monarch will still continue with her official duties as sovereign while at Balmoral.
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