With a spatula
The 96-year-old Queen Elizabeth II’s doctors, concerned about her health, recommended Thursday that she be placed under medical supervision at her Scottish castle of Balmoral, where her children and grandchildren went amid the “deep concern” of the country.
“Following further assessment this morning, the Queen’s doctors are concerned for Her Majesty’s health and have recommended that she remain under medical surveillance,” Buckingham Palace said.
“The queen continues to feel comfortable and will stay at Balmoral,” where she usually spends the late summer, she added in a brief statement.
All his children – Prince Charles, 73, heir to the throne, Princess Anne, 72, Prince Andrew, 62, and Prince Edward, 58 – are already in Balmoral or were on their way to that residence located 800 km north of London, according to officials of the British royal house.
concern in #UK for the state of health of Queen Elizabeth II
After the concern of the doctors, his son, Prince Charles, and his wife Camila have moved to the castle of #Bamoral in Scotland.
Elizabeth II is 96 years old and has been on the throne for more than 7 decades pic.twitter.com/GOodt4eWBU
— DW Spanish (@dw_espanol) September 8, 2022
The sons of Carlos, Guillermo, 40 years old and second in line to the throne, and Enrique, 37, also undertook the trip.
The latter was in London with his wife Meghan for a charity event, despite the fact that they have lived in California since they left the British monarchy in 2020, dealing a severe blow to the institution.
The trip by Harry and Meghan, who are not on the best of terms with the royal family, added to concerns raised by an already unusual statement from Buckingham.
“The palace doesn’t issue bulletins about the queen’s health unless it’s significant,” royal commentator Robert Hardman told the BBC.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, the highest-ranking clergyman in the Church of England, of which the queen is the leader, assured that she was in his prayers.
“May the presence of God strengthen and comfort Her Majesty, her family and those who care for her at Balmoral,” he tweeted.
The leaders of the self-governing regional governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also sent their best wishes.
The health of the elderly monarch has been a matter of growing concern since last October it was learned that she had spent a night hospitalized to undergo medical “tests” whose nature was never specified.
Since then she has reduced her schedule very considerably, her public appearances are increasingly scarce and in them she is often seen walking with difficulty aided by a cane.
The country “deeply concerned”
In recent years, Elizabeth II has had to weather the pandemic – contracting a covid that left her very tired -, the devastating death of her husband Felipe – who died in April 2021 at almost 100 years old – and the various crises of the royal family .
Among them, the “Megxit”, the exile of Enrique and Meghan to the United States, from where they accused the royalty of being unsupportive and racist, issues that the sovereign promised to deal with “in private”.
Also the scandal starring Andrés, considered his favorite son, who had to leave public life due to his friendship with the American financier Jeffrey Epstein, accused of sexually exploiting minors.
In June, the United Kingdom celebrated in style the Platinum Jubilee, the 70th anniversary of the accession to the throne of Elizabeth II, who increasingly delegates more official functions to Prince Charles.
On Tuesday, the monarch had received at Balmoral the resigning Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his successor at the head of the Conservative Party, Liz Truss, whom she commissioned to form a government as the new leader of the parliamentary majority.
An image of the act released by Buckingham Palace, in which the monarch was seen shaking hands with Truss, caused concern because the queen’s hand appeared unusually purple.
For the first time in her long tenure Elizabeth II had decided to stay at Balmoral rather than return to London, where the transition usually takes place, due to her health problems.
“The entire country will be deeply troubled by the news from Buckingham Palace this afternoon,” Truss tweeted Thursday.
“My thoughts – and those of everyone in the UK – are with Her Majesty the Queen and her family,” he added.
On Wednesday night, the royal house had announced that the monarch decided to postpone an online event after her doctors advised her to rest.
Elizabeth II was virtually absent from her platinum jubilee celebrations, appearing only twice briefly on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to greet the tens of thousands of people gathered there.
However, a few weeks later he took part in various public events in Scotland, appearing smiling and carrying a cane at an armed forces parade in Edinburgh in late June. AFP