Buckingham Palace announced that Camilla has a chest infection and will miss engagements this week.
The Duchess of Gloucester will represent Camilla at the opening of the annual Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey on Thursday. She also did not attend King Charles’ reception for Olympic and Paralympic athletes at Buckingham Palace that evening.
A palace official said the queen is currently resting at home on medical advice but hopes to be recovered in time for this weekend’s Remembrance events. On Saturday, members of the royal family will attend the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall to commemorate lives lost in the conflict and pay tribute to the service of the armed forces.
On Sunday, the King will lead a ceremony of honour at the Cenotaph in London, which will usually be attended by other senior royals, including the Queen and the Prince and Princess of Wales. No further details about her illness or treatment have been released, but she will remain under medical supervision.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “Her Majesty the Queen currently has a chest infection and doctors have advised her to take a short period of rest. It is therefore very regrettable that Her Majesty has had to decline to perform her official duties this week, but we very much hope that she will be well enough to be able to take part in the commemoration events this weekend in the normal way.
We apologise to everyone for any inconvenience or disappointment which may be caused as a result.” In the coming weeks. Prince Charles, 75, took time off from royal duties but returned in April, undergoing weekly treatment.
The King and Queen finished a nine-day tour of Australia and Samoa late last month. After returning to Britain, the couple stopped off in India for a luxury spa holiday, spending three days at the Sukya Resort in Bangalore, renowned for its yoga, wellness programmes and Ayurvedic treatments.
Charles and Camilla have stayed at the £3,000-a-week resort on several occasions and are said to enjoy its focus on holistic wellness. The Queen also broke her journey from London to Sydney two weeks ago for a short holiday there.
It was announced last week that the King and Queen will visit Italy as part of their first major trip in 2025, with Prince Charles aiming to “make up for lost time”. The couple are also planning a trip to Rome and hope to have an audience with the Pope at the Vatican. You will be travelling on behalf of the British Foreign Office and representing the UK. Their programme is aimed at strengthening relations between the two countries in a post-Brexit world.
Following the royal family’s successful visits to Australia and Samoa, Buckingham Palace had already announced that the King would resume a “full programme” next year. In a major boost, the King has been given the go-ahead by royal doctors to make plans for the future, despite his ongoing cancer treatment.