The Queen is extending her Christmas holiday for another month
While most of us begrudgingly return to work today, The Queen will face no such slog.
Every year, the Queen travels to her Sandringham estate in Norfolk to spend Christmas with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, and the rest of the royal family, including Charles and Camilla, Prince William and Kate Middleton, and Megan Markle and Prince Harry - although the latter pair spent this particular Christmas in Canada with baby Archie.
But unlike the rest of us, Queen Elizabeth extends her festive break and stays in Norfolk for another month after the celebrations are over. Usually, the Queen doesn't travel back to London until 6 February - and she has a very sentimental reason for the longer stay.
That date - 6 February - is special to the Queen, because her father, King George VI, died at Sandringham on the same day in 1952. Her grandfather, King George V, also died there.
For this reason, the Queen usually stays at the estate until 6 February every year.
Her father's death made her Queen 68 years ago, but the monarch clearly still holds him close. In her Queen's Speech this year, she made reference to her late dad in comments about D-Day, when over 150,000 troops landed in France in the Second World War, because 2019 marked its 75th anniversary.
She said: “I well remember the look of concern on my father’s face. He knew the secret D-Day plans but could of course share that burden with no one.”
The Sandringham Estate has been owned by the royal family since 1862, when it was purchased for one of Queen Victoria's sons, Albert Edward, who later became King Edward VII.
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