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Queen will NOT be at Commonwealth Service: Her Majesty, 95, asks Prince Charles to stand in

Jimie 2022. 3. 12. 05:25

Queen will NOT be at Commonwealth Service: Her Majesty, 95, asks Prince Charles to stand in at Westminster Abbey on Monday - but Palace says she will hold in-person audiences next week

  • The Queen will not attend the Commonwealth Service, Buckingham Palace said
  • Prince Charles has been asked to stand in for her at Westminster Abbey Monday
  • Was the monarch's first in-person public engagement since she was told to rest
  • 95-year-old has been recovering from Covid-19 after testing positive last month

By LAUREN LEWIS FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 05:13 AEDT, 12 March 2022 | UPDATED: 06:08 AEDT, 12 March 2022

 

The Queen will not attend Monday's Commonwealth Service, Buckingham Palace has said.

'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,' Buckingham Palace said in a statement.

The palace gave no reason for her cancellation but said she 'will continue with other planned engagements, including in-person audiences, in the week ahead.'

 

Monday's service at Westminster Abbey what was to have been the 95-year-old's first in-person public engagement since being advised to rest by her doctors and testing positive for Covid-19 on February 20 with 'mild symptoms'.

She has spent the last two weeks carrying out only light duties including a handful of virtual audiences. But she returned to in-person engagements this week, meeting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Windsor Castle on Monday and later meeting the head of Britain's armed forces.

The announcement came as Prince Harry pulled out of Duke of Edinburgh's memorial service at the end of the month - but said he 'hopes to visit the Queen as soon as possible'.

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Queen Elizabeth (pictured, appearing on a videolink virtual audience on Tuesday, March 8) will not attend Monday's Commonwealth Service, Buckingham Palace has said

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Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, will stand in for his mother at the Commonwealth Service on Monday, Buckingham Palace has announced

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Buckingham Palace said the 95-year-old monarch (pictured meeting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday, March 7) would resume in-person audiences next week

 

The Queen was set to be joined at the Commonwealth Service on Monday by some 1,500 guests celebrating Britain and the international grouping based around its former colonies.

A royal source told MailOnline: 'It's not a great surprise that the Queen won't be attending the Commonwealth Day service.

'Anyone who reaches the age of 95 would find it difficult to stand for long periods of time. She has said herself that she has been finding it difficult to walk lately. She has also been recovering from Covid.

'I don't think anyone really expected her to attend under the circumstances. She has to take things steady. She will be disappointed but it is a sensible precaution.'

She is still 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 at the end of March.

Senior royals attending the Commonwealth Day service on Monday include Charles' wife Camilla, and Prince William and his wife Catherine.

But Buckingham Palace revealed tonight that the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester will 'no longer attend, following the duke's positive test for Covid.'

'The Queen's Commonwealth Day message will be distributed in the usual way,' the spokesperson added.

The Queen has made fewer appearances in public during the Covid-19 pandemic, with many of her engagements switching to virtual events.

The Queen last met a group of people in public on February 5, the eve of reaching her Platinum Jubilee, when she hosted a reception at her Sandringham home for local charity workers, volunteers and former staff from her Sandringham estate.

Concerns were raised about the Queen's health when she spent a night in hospital last October, missed a string of events and was advised to undertake light duties by royal doctors.

She had only returned to something approaching normal working practices just before contracting Covid-19.

She had been expected to attend three engagements this month, including the Commonwealth Service.

Another one - a diplomatic reception at Windsor Castle - had already been postponed because the government felt the timing was inappropriate.

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The monarch, who has rarely been seen wearing a mask, wore a face covering to attend the funeral of her husband Prince Philip in April 2021

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Commemoration: The Queen wears a face mask as she inspects a bouquet of flowers to be placed at the grave of the Unknown Warrior by her Equerry, Lieutenant Colonel Nana Kofi Twumasi-Ankrah, in November 2020

The Queen wears a mask for the first time to mark Remembrance Sunday
 
 

Prince Harry will not be returning to the UK later this month to attend the high-profile memorial marking the passing of the Duke of Edinburgh.

A spokesperson for the Duke of Sussex today confirmed he would not be physically attending his grandfather's Service of Thanksgiving, which is due to be held at Westminster Abbey on March 29.

Speculation had mounted that Harry would not be in attendance after the Prince started a High Court battle over his taxpayer-funded security arrangements in the UK.

The Duke launched legal proceedings after he claimed he did not 'feel safe' in Britain without the protection of Scotland Yard officers, who he believes offer superior protection to privately hired bodyguards.

Harry's grandmother still hasn't met the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes' daughter, who was born last June in California and named Lilibet after the Queen's childhood nickname.

The developments come on the same day that Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle signed an open letter accusing the UK and 'rich' neighbours of pursuing 'self-defeating nationalism' to deny African and Asian countries the right to make their own Covid-19 vaccines.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are campaigning for Britain to work with pharmaceutical companies to waive intellectual property rights on the life-saving jabs in the latest flashpoint between Harry and his home country.

In an open letter published this afternoon, Meghan, Harry and other signatories warned 'the pandemic is not over', and blamed 'self-defeating nationalism, pharmaceutical monopolies and inequality' for the entire world not being vaccinated by now.

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A spokesperson for the Duke of Sussex today confirmed he would not be physically attending Prince Philip's Service of Thanksgiving , which is due to be held at Westminster Abbey on March 29

The UK has vowed to donate 100million coronavirus vaccine doses within the next year to low-income countries as part of at least 1billion doses due from the G7.

There have been a number of African countries, including Nigeria, where more than one million doses were destroyed last year because they expired after low uptake saw just two per cent of the population fully vaccinated in 2021.

In December experts said up to one third of Africa's Covid vaccine deliveries remain in storage as rollouts are hindered by jab hesitancy and infrastructure problems.

The Sussexes have repeatedly called for global vaccine equity, comparing it to the HIV crisis in 1980s and 1990s, and today their Archewell Foundation joined The People's Vaccine coalition, a group of 90 famous names and organisations demanding vaccines are 'freely available to everyone, everywhere'.

The couple have today said that 'world leaders' and 'rich nations' now 'have the responsibility to change the situation' in a letter also signed by Charlize Theron and Ban Ki-Moon.

Their letter says: 'The European Union, the United Kingdom and Switzerland continue to block the lifting of intellectual property rules which would enable the distribution and scale-up of Covid-19 vaccines, test and treatment facilities in the global south.

'The transfer of largely publicly funded vaccine technology and know-how from pharmaceutical corporations would fast track production to a matter of months. Yet still today, a handful of these corporations retain the power to dictate vaccine supply, distribution and price - and the power to decide who lives and who dies'.

It comes as the Duke pursues a legal challenge against the Home Office after being told he would no longer be given the 'same degree' of personal protective security when visiting from the US, despite offering to pay for it himself.

The High Court heard how Harry received 'insufficient information' over a decision to change his tax-payer funded police protection when he is in the UK.

The Duke hopes to bring his children to visit from across the Atlantic, but 'does not feel safe' when visiting under the current security arrangements, the court was previously told.

He is challenging the February 2020 decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec), which has delegated powers from the Home Secretary.

Harry is arguing that his private protection team in the US does not have adequate jurisdiction abroad or access to UK intelligence information which is needed to keep his family safe.

 

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Queen will NOT be at Commonwealth Service: Her Majesty, 95, asks Prince Charles to stand in