14th November, 2021
Queen Elizabeth has sprained her back and will not show up at the Remembrance Service at the London cenotaph for the war dead today.
“Her Majesty is ‘disappointed’ to miss the event”, Buckingham Palace said.
It said the Queen hopes to continue as planned with a schedule of light duties next week.
The service would have been the queen’s first in-person public engagement since she was advised to rest following a night in hospital last month.
She had missed several public events since then, including the COP26 Climate summit in Glasgow.
She was also absent at a festival to remember the nation’s war dead on Saturday evening.
The world’s oldest and longest-reigning monarch went to hospital last month for “preliminary investigations” into an unspecified ailment.
While the queen has been photographed greeting dignitaries online, the palace had said the 95-year-old was determined to appear in person at the Cenotaph where members of the royal family join leading members of the government, military and veterans to commemorate those who lost their lives in conflict.
Held on the nearest Sunday to Nov. 11 to recall the end of World War One, the sight of the queen at the annual event was expected to be one of the defining images of her 69-year reign: head bowed, wearing black and displaying a red poppy.
Elizabeth is queen of 15 other realms including Australia, Canada and New Zealand.