The Queen holds several garden parties at Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh every year. These popular gathering are attended annually by as many as 30,000 people and see guests consuming 27,000 cups of tea, 20,000 sandwiches and 20,000 slices of cakes. 

They are a tradition that has been upheld at Buckingham Palace since the 1860s.

However, the Queen may be forced to call them off this year in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, to both avoid the risk of contracting COVID-19 herself and further spread the virus, a Whitehall source said.

They told The Sunday Times: “Given that the Government is considering emergency legislation to ban mass gatherings, the garden parties are likely to be vulnerable to cancellation. 

“Considering the age of the Queen, no one wants to take any risks with her health.”

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman told Express.co.uk the palace will “act on appropriate advice from the government” and “won’t speculate on what advice” No10 may issue in the future. 

The Department of Health and Social Care didn’t comment on the source’s claims.

This comes a few days after the Queen was spotted wearing gloves for the first time in decades during an investiture ceremony.  

On Tuesday, the monarch awarded outstanding citizens with her hand covered by long white gloves, a fashion choice perceived by many commentators as a precautionary measure to avoid contracting coronavirus.

The 93-year-old monarch continues to carry out her royal duties, despite her age puts the monarch more at risk of suffering severe consequences if she gets coronavirus.

On Wednesday, the Queen met for private audiences the President of Malta and her wife and the Cuban Ambassador to the UK.

This morning, the monarch attended Sunday service with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.

And tomorrow, the Queen will join other senior royals at Westminster Abbey, where at 3pm will be held the Commonwealth Day service.

As many as 2,000 people, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, 800 school pupils and representatives from 54 Commonwealth countries, are going to be at the Abbey in central London. 

Confirming the Queen is dealing with the coronavirus outbreak with a positive and determined attitude, a senior palace source said last night the monarch wanted to set an example by “keeping calm and carrying on” until there was “compelling advice to the contrary”.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK has surged to 273 today.

This marks the biggest daily increase since the outbreak, with 67 new cases found in just 24 hours. 

More than 23,000 people have been tested in the UK so far.

The staggering increase of cases of coronavirus has sparked panic among some Britons, with many documenting on social media episodes of panic buying.

Some supermarkets have now started rationing essential items such as soap to avoid finding leaving several customers empty handed.   

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