Queen to miss virtual privy council meeting after doctors advise rest
The Queen will miss a privy council meeting after being advised by doctors to rest, according to reports.
The palace said the meeting, set to take place virtually on Wednesday evening, will be rearranged, PA News has reported. “After a full day yesterday, Her Majesty has this afternoon accepted doctors’ advice to rest,” a palace spokesperson said.
The Queen, in increasingly frail health, met the new prime minister, Liz Truss, on Tuesday at Balmoral in Scotland, where Truss was asked to form a new government after the resignation of Boris Johnson.
It was the first time a prime minister has had to travel to Balmoral for an audience with the Queen, who normally sees incoming leaders at Buckingham Palace. The 96-year-old monarch experienced episodic mobility issues in June during the jubilee celebrations, when she was notably absent from some events.
The Queen remains at Balmoral, and her latest guidance does not include a hospital stay, the agency reported. The privy council is a formal body, mainly made up of senior politicians, which advises the Queen.
During the planned meeting, Truss would have taken her oath as First Lord of the Treasury and new cabinet ministers would have been sworn into their roles, and also made privy counsellors if not already appointed as one in past.
In the days leading up to the announcement of the country’s new prime minister, the Queen called off attending the Braemar Gathering in Scotland on the first Friday of September. She normally attends the Highland Games event during her summer break.
During the jubilee celebrations in June, she missed both the thanksgiving service and Epsom Derby, although other royal family members turned out in force.
In May, the Queen, citing mobility issues again, missed the state opening of parliament, and did not read the Queen’s speech for only the third time in her reign.