UK leader’s office apologizes for party before royal funeral

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Boris Johnson’s office has apologized to the royal family for a lockdown-breaching staff parties in Downing Street on the eve of Prince Philips funeral. They are the latest in a string of rule-breaking social events that are threatening to topple the British prime minister. The Daily Telegraph said Downing Street employees drank, danced and socialized at farewell parties for two staffers on April 16 last year. The next day the widowed Queen Elizabeth II sat alone in the church during her husband’s funeral service in order to adhere to social distancing rules. Johnson spokesman Jamie Davies said it is “deeply regrettable that this took place at a time of national mourning and No. 10 has apologized to the palace.”