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Though London’s transit system was still packed on Friday and the city is still awaiting a shutdown, the royal family has already taken unprecedented precautions against the novel coronavirus. On Thursday, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip arrived at Windsor Castle where they will self-isolate, and the queen released a statement where she warned her subjects of the difficulties to come. Prince Charles is keeping busy inside his residence, but he’s communicating with his staff through digital means. According to the Press Association, Clarence House’s employees are all working from home and using virtual tools to continue attending meetings. “The prince is operating as close to business as usual as possible at the moment,” said a palace insider.
Now the precautions are expanding to their public offerings. On Friday, the palace announced that Buckingham Palace would suspend its Changing of the Guard ceremony indefinitely, following government guidelines meant to discourage mass gatherings. Similar ceremonies would also cease at Windsor Castle and St. James Palace. “Advice will be reviewed on an ongoing basis, with a view to restarting when appropriate,” a statement read.
The ceremony is one of London’s most popular tourist attractions and it occurs daily during the summer to accommodate crowds that number in the thousands. The ceremony is occasionally canceled in the event of bad weather or security threat, but the open-ended cancellation is unusual. According to the Daily Mail, the guards will still be at their posts behind the fence, but they will change shifts without the ceremonial aspect. The galleries operated by the Royal Collections Trust will also close beginning on March 21.
The only member of the family who has made a public appearance was Princess Anne, who wore gloves as she walked through the Addington Equestrian Center for a British Horse Society event. Sophie, Countess of Wessex canceled scheduled events last week due to illness—not COVID-19, according to an event’s organizer—and Prince Edward gave a speech through video chat.
The younger members of the family have spread their message through social media. Prince William announced a fundraising appeal through a video on Twitter, while he and Kate Middleton are preparing to undertake more work related to the crisis. Prince Harry apologized for the cancelation of the Invictus Games in a Twitter message. Though they are self-isolating in Canada, he and Meghan Markle have also used their Instagram to share resources around mental health and loneliness.
On Friday, the U.K.’s death toll due to COVID-19 rose sharply, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a shutdown of non-essential services in London, the hardest-hit city. As other European nations faced an earlier onset of the coronavirus crisis, the Brits worked to keep calm. Now that the royal family is figuring out how to work from home, a new phase of the country’s crisis response has officially begun.
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