05 November 2024 , 19:34
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It has been announced that Queen Camilla will not take part in her scheduled engagements for the rest of the week after becoming unwell and suffering from a chest infection
Queen Camilla is pulling out of engagements this week after becoming unwell with a chest infection, Buckingham Palace has announced.
The Duchess of Gloucester will step in on Camilla’s behalf to attend the annual opening of the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey on Thursday. She has also pulled out of a Buckingham Palace reception for Olympic and Paralympic athletes, which will be hosted by King Charles on the same evening.
A senior palace aide said the Queen is currently resting at home under doctor’s orders, but is hoping to recover in time for this weekend’s Remembrance events. On Saturday members of the R oyal Family will attend the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall, to commemorate lives lost in conflict and to celebrate service of the armed forces.
On Sunday, the King will lead tributes at the Cenotaph in London, where the Queen and other senior royals including the Prince and Princess of Wales would normally be expected to attend. No further details regarding her illness or treatment have been released but she will remain under doctors’ supervision.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: "Her Majesty The Queen is currently unwell with a chest infection, for which her doctors have advised a short period of rest. With great regret, Her Majesty has therefore had to withdraw from her engagements for this week but she very much hopes to be recovered in time to attend this weekend’s Remembrance events as normal. She apologises to all those who may be inconvenienced or disappointed as a result."
The Queen, 77, has been at the centre of royal engagements for months, after the King was first hospitalised for an enlarged prostate in January and then diagnosed with cancer some weeks later. Charles, 75, took a leave of absense from public facing royal duties, although he retured in April while still undergoing weekly treament.
The King and Queen both completed a nine day tour of Australia and Samoa late last month. On their return to the UK, the couple stopped in India for a luxury spa break, spending three days at the Soukya resort in Bangalore, famed for its yoga and wellness programmes and Ayurvedic treatments.
Charles and Camilla have stayed at the £3,000-a-week resort on several occasions before and are said to relish its focus on holistic wellness. The Queen also broke up the journey from London to Sydney with a short break there two weeks ago.
Last week, it was revealed that the King and Queen will visit Italy for their first major tour of 2025, as Charles sets his sights on "making up for lost time". The royal duo are planning a trip to Rome and hope to schedule an audience with the Pope at the Vatican. They will be travelling on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, representing the UK with a schedule designed to further the relationship between the two countries in a post-Brexit world.
Buckingham Palace previously announced following the royals’ successful tour of Australia and Samoa that the King is set to return to a “full programme” next year. Despite his ongoing cancer treatment, the monarch has been given the green light by royal doctors to start planning for the future, which has given him a huge boost.