Queen Elizabeth II has had to suspend one of her favourite pastimes as she isolates in her private quarters with 12 top staff, the Times reported on Saturday.
The Monarch, who just turned 94 on Tuesday, has been forced to leave her horses in their stables as she spends isolation at Windsor Castle with her husband Prince Phillip amid the outbreak of coronavirus in the United Kingdom.
According to an anonymous source familiar with internal Windsor ongoings, she is "in her bubble". No one outside a close inner circle of 12 staffers is permitted to see her.
But the Queen has not been idle. The Times reports that she has instead spent her free time keeping up with government documents, the news, and chatting with family members using an iPad.
While not her best known hobby, Her Majesty does have a preference for homing pigeons. Her budgerigars, who live very close to her private apartments at Windsor, are likely to be a central source of entertainment for her.
Most of the royals are no longer in London during the quarantine. Prince Charles, who contracted the virus, and his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall have ended their isolation at his Scottish home in Birkhall.
Prince William, Kate Middleton, and their family have holed up in Amner Hall, their Sandringham estate house in Norfolk. Their older children Prince George and Princess Charlotte are taking part in virtual lessons until the Easter break.
The United Kingdom has been on total lockdown since March as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps across the country. 143,464 people are confirmed to have contracted the virus and 19,506 have died.
