AS RIGHT AS REIGN
Your very good health. MARION McMULLEN looks at how Queen Elizabeth has rarely suffered with illnesses
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Her first hospital stay in 10 years came in 2013, when she was 86, after she suffered symptoms of gastroenteritis and missed an engagement in Swansea when she was due to present St David’s Day leeks to the
3rd Battalion
The Royal
Welsh. 6
Also in 2013, the Duke of Cambridge stepped in to represent the Queen at an investiture ceremony after she suffered some “mild discomfort” with her ankle following a busy weekend of engagements including the service of remembrance at the Cenotaph, left. A week of engagements, including a two-day trip to Rome, was cancelled.
The Queen is known for her strong constitution and no-fuss approach to her infrequent illnesses. The 95-year-old monarch’s overnight stay at the King Edward VII Hospital last month was her first in eight years. She was advised to rest and not to attend the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow. Instead, she addressed world leaders via a video message, left.
In 2016 Her Majesty turned 90 and called time on her overseas travels, leaving long-haul destinations to younger members of her family, but she still maintains a busy diary of events. 2
She caught measles when Prince Charles, inset, was two months old in 1949 and had to be separated from her baby son. However the first time the Queen was actually admitted to hospital was in 1982 when she had a wisdom tooth extracted, again at the King Edward VII Hospital in London.
That same year also saw her use the lift rather than stairs to enter Parliament for the State Opening, avoiding the 26 steps of the royal staircase at the Sovereign’s Entrance. Buckingham
Palace said the “modest adjustment” to the arrangements was made for “the Queen’s comfort”,. 3
The monarch loves to ride her Fell ponies at Windsor and drives, mainly around her private estates. Her illnesses have been few and far between over the years. She has suffered from back pain and also had operations to remove torn cartilage from both knees.
Just before Christmas 2016, the Queen and Prince Philip both fell ill with heavy colds, forcing them to delay their trip to Sandringham by a day. The Queen was not well enough to attend the Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene church and also missed the New Year’s Day one. She later described it as a “particularly grisly mixture of cold and flu”.
The Queen’s no-fuss approach to injury was illustrated in 1994 when her horse tripped during a ride on the Sandringham estate. Her broken wrist was not diagnosed until almost 24 hours later and set in plaster. It was the first time she had fallen in many years and she’d simply brushed herself down, re-mounted her horse and trotted on back to Sandringham.
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The Queen was treated as a day patient in 2018 for eye surgery to remove a cataract. However, she did not cancel any engagements, although she was spotted wearing sunglasses.