Queen Elizabeth has been advised to rest for at least the next two weeks, accepting doctors’ recommendations to take on only light duties and not travel, Buckingham Palace said Friday.
The decision comes days after the 95-year-old sovereign underwent medical tests and spent the night at London’s King Edward VII’s Hospital, her first such stay in eight years.
Elizabeth has continued to work since then and will press on with desk-based duties, but she will skip the Nov. 13 Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall in London, an event meant to honour the British and Commonwealth men and women who have fought wars, disasters and pandemics to protect and defend the nation.
“However, it remains the Queen’s firm intention to be present for the National Service of Remembrance on Remembrance Sunday, on 14th November,” the palace said.
It is significant that the palace statement highlighted the wish of the Queen to attend Remembrance Sunday ceremonies, as it is a major event on the sovereign’s calendar and one to which she has attached great importance.
Earlier this week, the Queen cancelled her planned appearance at the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow — a great disappointment to Britain’s Conservative government, which is anxious to show the importance of the session to the fate of the planet. The climate conference runs from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12, and her attendance was meant to kick it off in style and splendour.
The news came after the monarch held virtual audiences on Tuesday at Windsor Castle — the first since revelations that her doctors ordered her to rest last week. She greeted the ambassadors from South Korea and Switzerland during her first technology-aided appearance since she was driven to London’s King Edward VII’s Hospital on Oct. 20 for “preliminary investigations.”
She returned to her Windsor Castle home at lunchtime the next day and has been taking on light duties since.
The Queen underwent the medical tests after she cancelled a scheduled trip to mark 100 years since the creation of Northern Ireland, and the palace said she had “reluctantly” accepted advice to rest for a few days.
Britain’s longest-lived and longest-reigning monarch, Elizabeth is due to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee — 70 years on the throne — next year.
