By Lucy Caulkett-
The Queen will hold a joint 40th birthday bash with wife Kate after her own party plans were cancelled due to surging covid rates.
A party will be thrown for The Duke of Cambridge at the Queen’s Windsor Castle home or Sandringham Estate later this summer after agreeing the couple should “celebrate their landmark birthdays in style”, according to royal sources .
However the Queen, 96, will not confirm her attendance until the day of the party, according to the Mirror, because of her mobility issues which have seen her reluctantly pull out of many royal appearances in recent months.
The Duchess of Cambridge enjoyed her 40th in the Norfolk countryside in January, in a more intimate affair with just friends and family at the Cambridges’ home, Amner Hall, due to the Omicron variant.
The Queen may attend William and Kate’s bash, in line with the royal tradition of celebrating decade milestones for senior members of the family.
Historically, the lavish bashes have been thrown together to celebrate several members of the family together.
In June 2000 at Windsor Castle to celebrate Prince Andrew’s 40th birthday, Princess Anne’s 50th, Princess Margaret’s 70th and Prince William’s 18th.
William will not have his birthday marked by the flying of Union flags on government buildings to mark the birthdays of senior royals, in the wake of Prince Andrew’s banishment from royal duties following his involvement in a sex abuse scandal.
It emerged today that The Queen and the Prince of Wales will now be the only royals whose birthdays will be marked in such a way.
Andrew has been cut from the list on the Government’s website but so have the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Earl and Countess of Wessex and the Princess Royal.
Royal sources said the decision was taken to spare any embarrassment for Andrew after he was forced to pay £12million to settle a US civil sexual assault case in February.
Guidance on the designated days when the Union flag must be flown on UK government buildings appears to have changed on February 11 this year.
This was just four days before Andrew reached his out-of-court settlement with his accuser Virginia Giuffre, a month after the Queen stripped him of his military patronages and he gave up his HRH style, and a week before his 62nd birthday.