As reported in The Times over the weekend, the Queen would usually return to Buckingham Palace in October following her summer holiday in Balmoral, Scotland. But this year, she'll be heading straight back to Windsor, where she and Prince Philip have been isolating along with a small bubble of staff since the pandemic unfolded back in March.

Queen Elizabeth will "continue working from Windsor and is understood to be keen on commuting into London for engagements and events at Buckingham Palace, if it is considered safe for her to do so," reads the report by royal correspondent Roya Nikkhah. As Her Majesty left Buckingham Palace in March this year, and likely won't return until next year at the earliest, it's believed to be the longest period in her 68-year reign that she's spent away from her primary residence.

The Queen isn't the only royal to have departed London following the grip of the pandemic; Prince Charles and Camilla have been residing up in Scotland, where the heir to the throne remained while he was ill with the virus himself. Prince William and Kate Middleton, meanwhile, retreated to their Norfolk home Anmer Hall, where they have been home-schooling Prince George and Princess Charlotte. Both couples are expected to return to their London residences in the not-too-distant future, however.

But for the time being, it looks like Queen Elizabeth will be staying put in Windsor Castle, where she's been riding horses and dialling into video calls at her leisure. Dream set-up.