Queen Elizabeth II, great-grandmother to 12, loves 'family time' with the young royals

Queen Elizabeth II's fondness for working and engaging with members of the public is well-known, but what she loves the most is spending time with her great-grandchildren.

The 95-year-old, grandmother to eight, is great-grandmother to 12 young royals. Her eldest grandchild, Peter Philips, shares two daughters- Savannah, 10, and Isla, 9 with ex-wife Autumn Philips, while her eldest granddaughter Zara Tindall shares three children- Mia, 7, Lena 4, and Lucas, nine months with husband Mike Tindall.

The Queen is also great-grandmother to Prince William and Kate Middleton's children- 8-year-old Prince George who is third in the line of succession to her throne, and his younger siblings Princess Charlotte, 6, and Prince Louis, 3. She is yet to meet her great-granddaughter Lilibet Diana, whom Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have named after her, and hasn't seen their first child Archie, 2, since he was a few months old.

The monarch has two other great-grandchildren to spend time with, as her granddaughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie both became mothers earlier this year. Eugenie welcomed her son August with husband Jack Brooksbank in February while her elder sister welcomed daughter Sienna with husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in September.

Royal expert Kerene Barefield told Us Weekly that the monarch "is in her element when she's got her great-grandchildren sitting on her lap and having that family time." She added, "I'm sure it's something that we'll never ever get to witness — that kind of really relaxed family time, which is what everyone else has at Christmas."

The queen was expecting to see many of her great-grandchildren and other members of her family soon at the annual Christmas celebrations at Sandringham. A source had previously said that George, Charlotte, and Louis are "absolutely delighted to be seeing their great-grandmother in person again."

However, the Christmas plans have reportedly been cancelled in the wake of the rising cases of the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus. Barefield said, "I understand from sources that there could be a Christmas at Windsor this year, if things change. So, I think close aides are kind of looking at an alternative Christmas and how that would look at Windsor instead of everyone going to Sandringham."