UK Queen lands in hospital with stomach bug

Monarch cancels all engagements

LONDON, March 3, (Agencies): Britain’s 86-year-old Queen Elizabeth II was admitted to hospital for the first time in 10 years on Sunday as a precautionary measure, after struggling to shake off a bout of gastroenteritis.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said the monarch’s planned visit to Rome this week — her first trip overseas since October 2011 — had been called off.

Known for her robust health and devotion to duty, Britain’s head of state rarely misses engagements.

“The Queen is being assessed at King Edward VII’s Hospital in London after experiencing symptoms of gastroenteritis. As a precaution, all official engagements this week will be either postponed or cancelled,” the palace spokesman said.

He said she was in “good spirits” and was otherwise in “good health”. “This is a precautionary measure,”the spokesman added. “She was not taken into hospital immediately after feeling the symptoms. “This is simply to enable doctors to better assess her.” Broadcasters reported the queen would remain in hospital under observation for about two days.

After coming down Friday with gastroenteritis — an infection of the stomach and bowel with symptoms commonly including vomiting, diarrhoea and dehydration — the sovereign missed celebrations in Swansea on Saturday to mark St. David’s Day, the national day of Wales.

Instead of that engagement, she had been resting at Windsor Castle, west of London, where she and her husband Prince Philip usually spend the weekend.