LONDON — British police say a woman’s body has been found at the vast rural estate in Norfolk where Queen Elizabeth II and her family celebrated New Year’s.
Police are treating the case as a murder, and an autopsy was being conducted today to learn more about the cause of death and the identity of the victim.
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The body was found on New Year’s Day three miles from the elegant country home of Sandringham in eastern England where the royals held a New Year’s Day celebration in rural splendor.
Parts of the nearly 20,000-acre estate are open to the public, and the body was found in a forest at Anmer, a hamlet of several dozen people 115 miles northeast of London on the estate.
Forensics investigators in white outfits were seen walking through nearby woodlands today, examining the ground in an area cordoned off by police.
Most of the senior royals were at the sprawling estate, where the queen loves to celebrate Christmas with her husband, children and grandchildren. The royals New Year’s celebration marked a milestone in the recovery of Prince Philip, the queen’s 90-year-old husband, who made his first public appearance since recovering from a heart procedure over Christmas.
So far, there are more questions than answers about the strange discovery, which has shaken the normally quiet region where the queen and her family typically enjoy riding horses and shooting parties.
Buckingham Palace officials are keeping mum about the murder case, referring callers to the police, and police have released few details. It is not yet clear how old the victim was, how long her body had been in the woods, if she was murdered on the grounds or if her remains were put there after the slaying.
“We are at the very early stages of the investigation and it could be a complex inquiry,” Detective Chief Inspector Jes Fry said today. “The body had been there for some time.”
Fry said authorities were examining missing person reports and unsolved cases around the country to see if there were any possible links.
“I cannot confirm whether she was clothed because, at the moment, only my staff, the person who found the body and the person or people who put it there know that and I would like it to stay that way,” he said. “The body was found by a dog walker and was not underground. At this stage we do not know who the victim is.”
Sandringham estate comprises nearly 31 square miles, making it larger than Manhattan, which is roughly 23 square miles, according to New York City’s Department of City Planning.
The grisly find has further marred what had already been a difficult holiday season for the royal family. Their normal events were interrupted two days before Christmas when Philip suffered chest pains and had to be sent by helicopter to a Cambridge hospital for emergency treatment to clear a blocked coronary artery.
He was released in time to enjoy the New Year’s Day church service at a chapel on the estate, which has served as a private residence for British monarchs since 1862.
Elizabeth and Philip remain in residence at Sandringham House, along with one of her sons, Prince Edward, and his wife Sophie.
The estate has two stud farms and a fruit farm and employs more than 100 full-time staff.
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