The Queen will miss Remembrance events this weekend, Buckingham Palace has said.
Queen Camilla will not attend the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday evening, nor the Remembrance Day service at the Cenotaph on Sunday, a statement said.
This is while she recovers from a chest infection and to minimise the risk to others, the palace added.
“While this is a source of great disappointment to The Queen, she will mark the occasion privately at home and hopes to return to public duties early next week,” the statement said.
The King and the Princess of Wales are attending both events. Charles, 75, is still receiving cancer treatment but has resumed public duties. The princess, 42, has finished preventative chemotherapy following her diagnosis.
This weekend will be the first time the princess has carried out two consecutive days of official engagements since the start of the year.
It is understood there is no cause for concern for Camilla, 77, nor any downturn in her condition. Her husband and daughter-in-law have appeared to be limiting their contact with others to protect their health.
The Queen and Princess of Wales at last year’s Remembrance service. Pic: PA
Camilla was forced to pull out of other engagements earlier this week.
At the time, a palace spokesperson said the Queen’s doctors had “advised a short period of rest”. On Friday, officials said the Queen’s appearance at the events would depend on medical advice nearer the time.
The King, who recently returned from a tour of Australia, will lay a wreath of poppies at the base of the Cenotaph on Sunday, leading the nation in tribute to its fallen servicemen and women.
The monarch carried out fewer engagements than usual on his and his wife’s last tour. The palace said this was to allow for days of rest during the King’s treatment.
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The King and Queen on a visit to a Samoan cultural village in Apia last month. Pic: PA
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2024 ‘brutal’ for Royal Family
It comes after Prince William said 2024 has been “brutal” and “probably the hardest year in my life”, due to his wife and father’s cancer diagnoses.
Speaking on a tour of Cape Town this week, he said: “Honestly? It’s been dreadful.
“It’s probably been the hardest year in my life. So, trying to get through everything else and keep everything on track has been really difficult.”
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Kate ‘doing really well’, says William
On how his relatives have coped with their health struggles, he added: “I’m so proud of my wife, I’m proud of my father, for handling the things that they have done.
“But from a personal family point of view, it’s been, yeah, it’s been brutal.”