A taste of Sandringham! Queen launches her own brand of prosecco made at her Norfolk estate after deciding to stay in Windsor for Christmas – but one glass will set you back £15

• The Queen will still get a taste of Sandringham at Windsor this Christmas, after launching her own brand of prosecco at her Norfolk estate
• The monarch, 95, confirmed yesterday that she would be staying at Windsor Castle for Christmas amid spiking Covid cases
• The 200ml bottles of vintage Prosecco are decorated with a festival label featuring a robin, holly and fir trees and cost a hefty £15 each

The Queen will still get a taste of Sandringham at Windsor this Christmas, after launching her own brand of prosecco at her Norfolk estate. 

The monarch, 95, confirmed yesterday that she would be staying at Windsor  Castle for Christmas amid spiking Covid cases, instead of keeping with tradition and welcoming family at her home in Sandringham during the festive season. 

But she could stock up on the 200ml bottles of vintage Prosecco, which she has started selling in the shop on her Royal Sandringham estate. 

The tiny bottles of Christmas Prosecco, which are just enough for one glass, are decorated with a festival label featuring a robin, holly and fir trees and cost a hefty £15 each. 

The Queen (seen at Ascot in October) will still get a taste of Sandringham at Windsor this Christmas, after launching her own brand of prosecco at her Norfolk estate

The extra dry Prosecco is 11 per cent and produced in Italy for the Queen’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk. 

The estate already sells its own Celebration Gin, which is made in a distillery on the estate. 

The Queen also recently launched her first beer, made using organic Laureate Spring Barley harvested from her gardens at Sandringham and crystal-clear water drawn from a nearby bore hole.

In October it was reported that the royal was ordered to only drink on special occasions amid fears for her health, after she was pictured with a walking stick for the first time during an engagement in Wales. 

The tiny bottles of Christmas Prosecco, which are just enough for one glass, are decorated with a festival label featuring a robin, holly and fir trees and cost a hefty £15 each

At the time sources claimed that despite the monarch being in good health, the ‘personal decision’ made to limit alcohol to occasions only. 

It is thought she wants to be in the best possible shape before her Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June when she plans to visit as much of the country as she can. 

The monarch is rarely seen drinking in public but according to palace sources, just like her son Prince Charles, her alcoholic beverage of choice is often a dry martini.

The 95-year year-old is also believed to enjoy a glass of sweet wine with dinner, while her late cousin Margaret Rhodes once reported she was known to drink a glass of champagne before bed.

The extra dry Prosecco is 11 per cent and produced in Italy for the Queen’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk

In October it was reported that the royal was ordered to only drink on special occasions amid fears for her health, after she was pictured with a walking stick for the first time during an engagement in Wales 

The monarch is rarely seen drinking in public but according to palace sources, just like her son Prince Charles, her alcoholic beverage of choice is often a dry martini. Queen Elizabeth II at a State Banquet at Blackheads House British Royal visit to Tallinn, Estonia on 19 October 2006

The new release of the prosecco comes a day after the Queen was forced to cancel her traditional family Christmas at Sandringham amid fears over a spike in Covid cases.

After ‘careful consideration’ the monarch will remain at Windsor Castle for the festive period and will be visited by family members there, a royal source revealed.

The 95-year-old had hoped to spend the first Christmas since Prince Philip’s death surrounded by her loved ones at the Norfolk estate that she and her late husband love so dearly.

But as omicron cases continue to increase across the country, it emerged the Queen had made the ‘personal’ decision to stay at Windsor.

The arrangement mirrors that made last year, when she and Philip spent their final Christmas together at Windsor before his death in April. The Royals have made Sandringham their base for Christmas and New Year since 1988, with the Queen traditionally returning to London or Windsor on the anniversary of her father’s death on February 6.

The Queen will not spend Christmas at Sandringham for the first time more than 30 years after deciding to spend time at Windsor

But this year’s celebrations have been curtailed in a bid to protect the triple-vaccinated Queen from coronavirus. Last week it was announced that the large pre-Christmas family meal she hosts for dozens of people at Windsor would not go ahead.

And yesterday she avoided going to church in Windsor – and is likely not to attend services on Christmas Day itself, instead worshipping privately.

She had been due to travel to Norfolk on Wednesday but will no longer make the journey. She will receive visitors at Windsor and ‘appropriate guidelines will be followed’, the royal source added. 

It has not yet been confirmed where the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will be spending Christmas. 

The Queen has recently suffered a bout of ill-health, including in October this year, when she was admitted to hospital overnight for preliminary investigations and ordered by her royal doctors to rest.

The monarch also sprained her back and was advised to pull out of attending several events, including the Remembrance Sunday service in November.

Royal Christmases at Sandringham 

During the 1960s, when the Queen’s children were young, many festive seasons were celebrated at Windsor, but since 1988, when the castle was rewired, royal Christmases returned to Sandringham.

The Queen traditionally spends both Christmas and New Year at the estate, before leaving in February. 

She usually returns to London or Windsor on the anniversary of her father’s death on February 6.

And this coming February will be a particularly poignant date, for it marks the 70th anniversary of the death of her father, King George VI – and the point at which the Queen will have been on the throne for seven decades. 

A Royal insider told the Mail on Sunday the Sandringham estate is special ‘not only because of all the fond memories of Prince Philip and the hard work he did to transform the estate, but also because it’s the very place where her father passed away’.

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