Queen battled on with sunglasses after cataract operation
THE Queen has undergone eye surgery to remove a cataract and in recent weeks has worn sunglasses in public rather than cancel her long-planned engagements.
The 92-year-old had the successful procedure in May, Buckingham Palace has confirmed.
In the weeks since, the Queen has been seen wearing sunglasses at a number of events including the Royal Windsor Horse Show and Buckingham Palace garden parties.
It has now emerged that the Queen was treated as a day patient at the private King Edward VII’S Hospital in London. A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “I can confirm that the Queen successfully underwent a short, planned procedure to treat a cataract last month.”
Despite the surgery, the Queen continued with her duties as usual, and did not cancel or postpone any pre-announced engagements. The Court Circular, the public record of the working life of the Royal family, showed no major break in the Queen’s work in May, from receiving official visitors at Buckingham Palace to attending the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with the Duke of Edinburgh, who had recovered from a hip replacement operation.
There was a short gap between May 4, when she held an investiture, and May 15 when she undertook a series of jobs including hosting a garden party and welcoming Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president, and his wife.
Cataracts, which cause cloudy patches in the lens, can worsen over time, causing blurred or misty vision and eventually blindness, if untreated.