Queen Camilla has been forced to cancel her forthcoming public engagements after being laid low by a nasty chest infection.
The 77-year-old royal is understood to be recovering at home in Wiltshire and is being monitored by doctors.
It means that Her Majesty has had to reluctantly withdraw from the annual opening of the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey this Thursday.
As the daughter of decorated war hero Major Bruce Shand, who earned two military crosses in the Second World War for his bravery, it is a duty she takes extremely diligently and will be seen as a sign of how poorly she is feeling.
The Duchess of Gloucester, 78, will step in for her.
However, Camilla does very much hope to attend this weekend’s Remembrance events, including the ceremony at the Cenotaph on Sunday.
The update comes after a year of health troubles for the Royal Family, with both the King and the Princess of Wales being diagnosed with cancer.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: ‘Her Majesty The Queen is currently unwell with a chest infection, for which her doctors have advised a short period of rest.
‘With great regret, Her Majesty has therefore had to withdraw from her engagements for this week but she very much hopes to be recovered in time to attend this weekend’s Remembrance events as normal.
‘She apologises to all those who may be inconvenienced or disappointed as a result.’
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer posted a get-well message to the Queen on social media. He wrote: ‘On behalf of the whole country, I wish Her Majesty The Queen a speedy recovery.’
Camilla will also have to cancel her appearance at a reception at Buckingham Palace in honour of the nation’s Olympic and Paralympic stars this Thursday.
The King will still attend, accompanied by his sister Princess Anne.
The Queen returned to the UK on October 30 after a busy official overseas tour to Australia and Samoa with the monarch, which included a three-day stopover in India on the way back.
MailOnline understands that there is ‘no cause for alarm’ and it is just one of the many ‘seasonal bugs’ that can be picked up at this time of year, especially given her international travel.
Camilla and the King have also just undertaken a gruelling 11-day, 30,000-mile round trip, partly on commercial airlines.
The Queen broke up her journey by visiting an Ayurvedic spa in India for a few days on the way out, and again on the way home for three days, this time with the King.
No further details regarding her illness or treatment have been released, but Camilla is understood to be under doctors’ supervision.
Meanwhile, the King was carrying on with his duties at Buckingham Palace today, holding audiences with two new ambassadors and a high commissioner.
The 75-year-old monarch welcomed Qatari ambassador Sheikh Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Saud Al-Thani; Rajendre Khargi, who is the ambassador from the Republic of Suriname; and the High Commissioner for the Republic of Vanuatu, Georges Maniuri, who presented their credentials in the 1844 room.
Charles and Camilla spent around two weeks out of the UK for their nine-day official tour.
They stopped off in India for the luxury spa break on their return flight from Samoa, with the King following advice to take periods of rest to prioritise his cancer recovery.
The royal couple were reported to have spent three days at the £3,000-a-week holistic Soukya resort in Bangalore, known for its yoga programmes and Ayurvedic treatments.
The Queen has been focused on her husband’s health in recent months, telling author Lee Child in June that he was ‘doing fine’ but ‘won’t slow down and won’t do what he’s told’.
Charles, who was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer in February, paused his treatment to undertake his historic first official trip to Australia as the country’s monarch in October.
The visit hit the headlines when Australian senator Lidia Thorpe berated the King and accused him of ‘genocide’ against the First Nations, after his speech during the monarch and Camilla’s official welcome to Canberra.
It comes ahead of a new ITV documentary in which Camilla vows she will ‘keep trying’ to end domestic violence, until she is ‘able to no more’.
Camilla tells the film, being shown on November 11, that domestic abuse is a ‘heinous crime’ and she is determined to continue raising awareness of the issue.
The Queen was followed over the course of a year for the show looking at her work in this field, including private meetings with survivors and a visit to a refuge centre.
On ending domestic violence, Camilla said in the programme ‘Her Majesty The Queen: Behind Closed Doors’ that it is ‘going to take a long, long time because it has been going on forever’.
She continued: ‘It’s been going since, since time began. But I think if you look at the steps that we’ve taken since the bad old days, we have made a huge amount of progress, and I shall keep on trying until I am able to no more.’
Meanwhile Prince William is on a four-day visit to South Africa to promote his environmental Earthshot Prize, which is holding its annual awards ceremony in Cape Town tomorrow.
Today, William took in the views of Cape Town’s famous Table Mountain when he met park rangers at Signal Hall – and later had a meeting with South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa.
The Queen has been focused on the King’s health this year following his cancer diagnosis and has been credited with buoying the monarch with her support.
Camilla was dubbed the monarchy’s ‘saviour’ and praised for keeping ‘the show on the road’ in Charles’s absence while he was away from public-facing duties until April this year.
But the 77-year-old Queen, who has withdrawn from official engagements this week due to a chest infection, has had her own share of hospital stays and setbacks over the years.
She has suffered a broken leg, back pain, had a hysterectomy, and contracted Covid twice.
When the King acceded to the throne in 2022, Camilla was secretly nursing a broken toe as she carried out her first duties as the new Queen Consort.
She was in pain but was said to have been an ‘absolute trouper’, standing during lengthy public appearances such as the late Queen Elizabeth II’s lying in state.
The former Mrs Parker Bowles took on the role of Queen Consort when she was 75 – an age at which many people are already well into retirement.
After one well-wisher in Cardiff remarked she must be absolutely exhausted, Camilla replied: ‘Yes, we are, but we have to carry on, stopping would be worse.’
In February 2022, the Queen Consort contracted Covid for a second time after suffering cold-like symptoms.
She cancelled engagements and spent time resting.
Almost exactly a year earlier, she also tested positive for coronavirus and self-isolated at home.
The Queen used to be a heavy smoker – a habit Charles loathes – but she gave up many years ago.
In 2019, she pulled out of a gala dinner on medical advice after contracting a chest infection.
A day later, she missed an event at Westminster Abbey’s Field of Remembrance with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, with Clarence House saying the infection had got progressively worse.
In 2010, Camilla spent several days in hospital and had to rest for six weeks after undergoing a hysterectomy – a major operation to remove her womb – when she was 59.
Aides confirmed the operation was not cancer-related.
She broke her left leg while hill walking in Scotland in 2010, but soldiered on, carrying out her engagements with her leg in plaster.
She used crutches and was pushed around in an NHS wheelchair.
The then Duchess of Cornwall even used a mobility scooter to present Afghanistan campaign medals to soldiers from A Company 4th Battalion The Rifles at Bulford Camp, near Salisbury, Wiltshire.
When her cast was finally removed, she joked: ‘I feel like a child without my prop.’
She also quipped about longing for her high heels, saying: ‘I’ll be glad to get back in the Jimmy Choos.’
The Queen, like the King, has sometimes suffered back problems.
A trapped nerve which had been causing her some pain forced her to cancel a number of engagements in Poland during a tour to eastern Europe with Charles in 2010.
A royal cushion – often a tartan one – is sometimes put in place for Camilla, alongside Charles’s, on royal engagements to provide comfort for her back.
Camilla keeps active. She has been a devotee of ballet for many years and attends weekly Royal Academy of Dance Silver Swan classes with her friends.
She also enjoys walking in the countryside with Charles, and they both share a passion for gardening and painting.
In 1994, it was feared she had broken her nose after she was thrown from the saddle while horse riding.
And in 2003, it was reported that Charles had been concerned enough to spend thousands of pounds on private medical treatment when back pain prevented Camilla from enjoying riding.
In 2004, the then-Prince of Wales’s household was forced to deal with incorrect reports from America that former smoker Camilla was suffering from lung cancer.
Aides issued an immediate denial.
On the eve of her 2005 wedding to Charles, it was reported she was so stressed about the much-anticipated ceremony that she was confined to bed, exhausted.
Royal tours have sometimes taken their toll.
In 2006, Camilla suffered in the scorching heat of the Rajasthan sun on her official visit to India with Charles.
She was twice forced to retreat into the shade from the 42C temperatures, taking a drink of water inside a small mud hut under the watchful eye of the royal doctor.
In 2007, Camilla cancelled two engagements in less than a month due to a stomach bug.
First she pulled out of an appearance at a Christmas pudding factory in December, and then was unable to make an event in Aberdeen in January.
She also missed a Diplomatic Corps reception at Buckingham Palace in 2015 after suffering from neck and shoulder pain.
This summer, on a short official trip to Guernsey, she was spotted with a bandage on her right foot, with the Palace saying she had suffered a slight ankle strain.
The next day, her 77th birthday, she was bandage-free when she attended the State Opening of Parliament alongside the King.