The 96-year-old monarch’s doctors gave an alarming update about her health on Thursday.
Dan Ladden-Hall
News Correspondent
Tom Sykes
Royalist Correspondent
Updated Sep. 08, 2022 8:12AM ET / Published Sep. 08, 2022 7:45AM ET
Queen Elizabeth II’s doctors are “concerned” for her health and are keeping her under medical supervision, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said Thursday.
The 96-year-old British monarch was evaluated Thursday morning, the spokesperson said in a statement. The queen is at her Balmoral residence in Scotland where she “remains comfortable,” the statement added.
An official spokesperson for Prince Charles and Camilla confirmed they had already traveled to Balmoral, while a spokesperson for Prince William said at lunch time that he was “traveling to Balmoral,” suggesting he was making an urgent dash to be by his grandmother’s side.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Prince Harry’s spokesperson asking if he will also be making the trip to Scotland.
The alarming news comes after the queen was pictured using a walking stick while anointing Liz Truss as the new U.K. prime minister on Tuesday.
“The whole country will be deeply concerned by the news from Buckingham Palace this lunchtime,” Truss wrote in a tweet posted shortly after the statement on the queen’s health was released. “My thoughts—and the thoughts of people across our United Kingdom—are with Her Majesty the Queen and her family at this time.”
The first public sign Thursday that the queen may be seriously ill came when, in the middle of a high-profile debate about the U.K. energy crisis, Truss and her opposite number, Sir Keir Starmer, suddenly departed the chamber of the House of Commons.
Buckingham Palace then acted swiftly to put out an official statement saying that, although doctors were “concerned for Her Majesty’s health” she “remained comfortable.” Official sources pushed back against suggestions she had had a fall, but there was no attempt to deny the seriousness of the situation.
Anxiety about the queen’s health has been steadily mounting recently after a series of unusual event cancellations and venue changes. Traditionally, the queen’s meeting with a new prime minister—an ancient ceremony known as “the kissing of hands”—takes place at Buckingham Palace, but this week’s meeting was moved to Scotland to accommodate what had been described as an “episodic mobility issue” that the queen has been suffering.
Thursday’s dramatic news also came after the queen’s spokesperson said on Wednesday that she had cancelled a virtual meeting of the Privy Council—a body which advises the British sovereign—having been advised by her doctor to rest. A source said at the time that there were “no hospitals or anything involved.”
The palace attempted to play down the significance of Wednesday’s cancellation, saying that the queen was tired after a “full day” on Tuesday during Truss' appointment at prime minister.
The queen had wanted to perform the ceremony in person in London, but eventually accepted that it would be necessary for the politicians to travel to her in Scotland.
Prince William, Prince Charles Rush to Queen, Now ‘Under Medical Supervision’ at Balmoral (thedailybeast.com)
Dan Ladden-Hall
News Correspondent
Tom Sykes
Royalist Correspondent
Updated Sep. 08, 2022 8:12AM ET / Published Sep. 08, 2022 7:45AM ET
Queen Elizabeth II’s doctors are “concerned” for her health and are keeping her under medical supervision, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said Thursday.
The 96-year-old British monarch was evaluated Thursday morning, the spokesperson said in a statement. The queen is at her Balmoral residence in Scotland where she “remains comfortable,” the statement added.
An official spokesperson for Prince Charles and Camilla confirmed they had already traveled to Balmoral, while a spokesperson for Prince William said at lunch time that he was “traveling to Balmoral,” suggesting he was making an urgent dash to be by his grandmother’s side.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Prince Harry’s spokesperson asking if he will also be making the trip to Scotland.
The alarming news comes after the queen was pictured using a walking stick while anointing Liz Truss as the new U.K. prime minister on Tuesday.
“The whole country will be deeply concerned by the news from Buckingham Palace this lunchtime,” Truss wrote in a tweet posted shortly after the statement on the queen’s health was released. “My thoughts—and the thoughts of people across our United Kingdom—are with Her Majesty the Queen and her family at this time.”
The first public sign Thursday that the queen may be seriously ill came when, in the middle of a high-profile debate about the U.K. energy crisis, Truss and her opposite number, Sir Keir Starmer, suddenly departed the chamber of the House of Commons.
Buckingham Palace then acted swiftly to put out an official statement saying that, although doctors were “concerned for Her Majesty’s health” she “remained comfortable.” Official sources pushed back against suggestions she had had a fall, but there was no attempt to deny the seriousness of the situation.
Anxiety about the queen’s health has been steadily mounting recently after a series of unusual event cancellations and venue changes. Traditionally, the queen’s meeting with a new prime minister—an ancient ceremony known as “the kissing of hands”—takes place at Buckingham Palace, but this week’s meeting was moved to Scotland to accommodate what had been described as an “episodic mobility issue” that the queen has been suffering.
Thursday’s dramatic news also came after the queen’s spokesperson said on Wednesday that she had cancelled a virtual meeting of the Privy Council—a body which advises the British sovereign—having been advised by her doctor to rest. A source said at the time that there were “no hospitals or anything involved.”
The palace attempted to play down the significance of Wednesday’s cancellation, saying that the queen was tired after a “full day” on Tuesday during Truss' appointment at prime minister.
The queen had wanted to perform the ceremony in person in London, but eventually accepted that it would be necessary for the politicians to travel to her in Scotland.
Prince William, Prince Charles Rush to Queen, Now ‘Under Medical Supervision’ at Balmoral (thedailybeast.com)
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