Queen Elizabeth II will miss Commonwealth Service, Prince Harry won’t attend memorial for Prince Philip

Queen Elizabeth II will miss next week’s Commonwealth Service, Buckingham Palace has said, in what the future held been the 95-year-old’s first in-person public engagement since her doctors advised her to rest. The Queen won’t go to the annual Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey on Monday, Buckingham Palace has affirmed.

The 95-year-old monarch, who is the head of the Commonwealth, had wanted to join the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at the event, after recently recuperating from Covid-19.

The world’s oldest and longest-reigning monarch has been little seen since she went through a night in the hospital last October for an unspecified illness, and was then trained by her medical team to rest.

Last month, she tested positive for COVID-19, suffering mild cold-like symptoms, yet was alright to meet Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Windsor Castle on Monday.

In any case, Buckingham Palace said her son and heir Prince Charles would act in her place at next week’s annual service for the Commonwealth of 54 countries, which she heads.

“After discussing the arrangements with the Royal Household, the Queen has asked the Prince of Wales to represent Her Majesty at the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey on Monday,” the Palace said in a statement.

“The Queen will continue with other planned engagements, including in-person audiences, in the week ahead.”

It is thought the decision was not because of any ailment, yet to conversations about the solace of getting the Queen to and from the service.

She will rather send a video message to the congregation. The celebration is a top pick of the monarch, with music, poetry, and speeches acting as a tribute to the “family of nations”.

Visitors will likewise incorporate Boris Johnson, Commonwealth secretary-general Lady Scotland, high commissioners, ambassadors, senior politicians and dignitaries from across the UK and Commonwealth, faith leaders, and more than 600 schoolchildren and youngsters.

The palace affirmed that the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester wouldn’t be attending the service, as the Duke had tested positive for Covid.

The news comes days after it was declared that the Queen will be moving out of Buckingham Palace and into her home in Windsor Castle for the foreseeable future. She had been undertaking “light duties”, the palace said, since a-bout of ill-health, however, was not as of now sick.

Nonetheless, she is known to have suffered from portability issues. The monarch routinely uses a walking stick and recently talked about her physical health, let two senior military officials know who asked how she was during a Windsor Castle reception: “Well, as you can see, I can’t move.”

Instead, she is thought to be pacing herself before her 96th birthday celebrations in six weeks.

The Queen last cancelled an appearance at the Commonwealth Day service nine years ago in 2013, when she was recuperating from a bout of gastroenteritis. Before that, she hadn’t missed a single service for 20 years, the last event being the point at which she got influenza in 1993.

The Queen got back to in-person events on Monday, when she invited Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, to Windsor Castle. She was pictured sharing a joke with the politician toward the beginning of their meeting – and was using a walking stick.

Preceding her Covid infection, her last public in-person meeting was on 5 February, when she hosted a reception at her home in Sandringham to celebrate her platinum jubilee.

In the interim, a representative for Prince Harry has affirmed he won’t get back to the UK for Prince Philip’s memorial service on 29 March.

Be that as it may, the Duke of Sussex would have liked to visit his grandma the Queen soon, the representative said.

In February, the Duke launched legal action against the Home Office for denying his family access to police insurance when they visit the country. He was rearward in Britain in the summer of 2021, to reveal a statue of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, at Kensington Palace.

On a similar trip, his security was compromised when his vehicle was pursued by paparazzi photographers as he left a charity event.

A lawful agent of the Duke said that he feels his family is “unable to return home because it is too dangerous”.

Duties carried out virtually

The decision was not connected with any ailment, however to conversations about the solace of getting the Queen to and from the service.

Not long after she praised the 70th anniversary of taking the throne in February, a palace source said she planned to get back to normal duties.

From that point forward, she has basically done duties virtually from her Windsor Castle home, however, she had been relied upon to attend three engagements this month, including the Commonwealth Service.

Another – a diplomatic reception at Windsor Castle – had already been delayed because the government felt the timing was inappropriate.

She is as yet expected to attend a service of thanksgiving for the life of Prince Philip, her husband of 73 years who died aged 99 last April, at London’s Westminster Abbey toward the finish of March.

Prince Harry will not attend service

Notwithstanding, one royal who won’t be attending that service is her grandson Prince Harry, who presently lives in Los Angeles with his American wife Meghan, and has been engaged in a court fight with the British government over his security.

His representative said Harry wouldn’t be getting back to Britain later this month, yet wanted to visit the Queen quickly.

Harry’s relationship with different royals has been stressed since he moved to the United States with his spouse, from where they have delivered a few thorned attacks on his family and the Queen’s household.