Why the Queen, 94, won't be the first in line to get a coronavirus vaccine
Watch: Who will get the vaccine first? Priority list revealed for Pfizer/BioNTech jab
The Queen and Philip will not be the first people to receive the new coronavirus vaccine, according to a priority list set out to ministers.
The UK is to become the first nation to roll out a coronavirus vaccine, after the Pfizer/BioNTech offering was approved by experts.
The news has been met with excitement across the country, as a glimmer of hope of returning to normal life peeks through at the end of the year.
The rollout will start in December, likely to be in line with a priority list issued by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
The list has been determined on a national scale. No one can jump the queue dependant on the tier they live in or other factors.
As the list currently stands, it means the Queen and Prince Philip won’t be able to get the jab in the first few weeks.
The Queen, at 94, and the Duke of Edinburgh, at 99, don’t live in a care home, so they fall into the second category of over-80s.
Read more: Who will get the vaccine first? Priority list revealed for Pfizer/BioNTech immunisations
The Queen’s cousins, the Duke of Kent, 85, and Princess Alexandra, at 83, will get the vaccine at about the same time as they will fall into the same category.
Charles, and his wife Camilla, Anne, the Princess Royal, and the current Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, are all in their 70s and will get their vaccines in the third or fourth categories.
The next major royals to get the vaccine will have a while to wait, as the government will start to prioritise those with underlying health conditions or people who are extremely clinically vulnerable.
There are no known royals who would fit into this category.
Prince Andrew, at 60, and his former wife Sarah Ferguson, also 60, will be next in line, in the seventh group.
The Queen’s youngest son is Prince Edward, and at 56, he will have to wait until the penultimate rollout, when over 55’s get the jab.
His wife Sophie is 55 so she will likely get it at the same time.
The younger royals, like William, Kate, Mike and Zara Tindall, and Peter Phillips will have to wait for the wider rollout.
Read more: Queen showing 'real leadership' with message 'it's alright to miss Christmas', says expert
Royal children are unlikely to get the vaccine at all. The government has said pregnant women and children under the age of 16 will be advised against taking it for now because there isn’t enough data about its impact on those groups.
Children tend to suffer less with coronavirus, according to evidence so far.
However some children will be given it, including those “at very high risk of exposure and serious outcomes, such as older children with severe neuro-disabilities that require residential care”.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who now live in California, will have to wait until the vaccine is rolled out in the US to get immunised.
Several vaccines are getting closer to approval in the US, and two are seeking emergency approval.
Vice-president Mike Pence has said rollout there could start in the week of 14 December.
The US appears to be prioritising the rollout based on working situations, rather than age, though its health workers and those living in care homes who will get it first.
Read more: Here's what a royal Christmas at Windsor used to look like
Then they might give it to essential workers, with states deciding for themselves which industries to prioritise.
It’s likely to be next summer before Harry and Meghan would be able to get the vaccine, not too different from the royals still in the UK.
The US government has said Americans will get the vaccine for free, despite not having a national health system like Britain’s NHS, so the Duke and Duchess of Sussex won’t have to pay.
Watch: The Queen and Prince Philip to spend Christmas at Windsor