Doctors tell Queen Elizabeth to Rest, Monarch Still to Attend Remembrance Sunday Service

Queen Elizabeth II has been advised by her doctors to rest for at least the next two weeks, Buckingham Palace announced Friday.

The 95-year-old monarch will reportedly take the advice and cut back on her schedule, and she will miss some appearances she was previously scheduled to attend, the Associated Press reported.

One such planned appearance that she will not be able to travel to take part in is the Festival of Remembrance on Saturday, November 13. But Buckingham Palace said, "it remains The Queen's firm intention to be present for the National Service of Remembrance on Remembrance Sunday, on 14th November."

"The doctors have advised that Her Majesty can continue to undertake light, desk-based duties during this time, including some virtual audiences, but not to undertake any official visits," the palace also said in its statement.

The queen recently canceled a scheduled trip to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the creation of Northern Ireland. Following that cancelation, she underwent medical tests, which resulted in her "reluctantly" taking the advice of her doctors to take some time to rest.

The medical tests were said to not be related to COVID-19.

For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.

Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II has accepted doctors' advice to rest for two weeks. Pictured, the Queen appears on a screen via videolink from Windsor Castle, where she is in residence, during a virtual audience at Buckingham... Victoria Jones/Pool via AP

Queen Elizabeth II was recently seen using a walking stick at a Westminster Abbey service marking the centenary of the Royal British Legion, an armed forces charity. Although she had used a cane in 2003, it was after she underwent knee surgery.

The decision for the queen to take some time off comes just days after she canceled her planned appearance at the U.N. climate conference in Glasgow—a move that dashed the hopes of Britain's Conservative government which is anxious to show the importance of the session to the fate of the planet. The climate conference runs from October 31 to November 12 and her attendance was meant to kick it off in style and splendor.

The news of the queen cutting back on her schedule came after the sovereign held virtual audiences Tuesday at Windsor Castle—the first since revelations that her doctors ordered her to rest last week. The sovereign greeted the ambassadors from South Korea and Switzerland during her first technology-aided appearance since she was driven to London's King Edward VII's Hospital on October 20 for "preliminary investigations." She returned to her Windsor Castle home at lunchtime the next day and has been taking on light duties since.

The queen's husband, Prince Philip, died in April 2021 at 99.

Update 10/29/21 1:45 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to include more background information.

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