Our hard-working Queen deserves a proper break

Since the Queen is the undoubted jewel in the Crown of our monarchy, many are now arguing that we should be taking much greater care of her. I appreciate that, armed with a “keep calm and carry on” mentality honed by almost seven decades of stalwart service, Her Majesty likes to keep busy but she has arguably been doing far too much.

News of the 95-year-old monarch’s hospitalisation on Wednesday night naturally raised alarm bells over whether more concessions should be made to her advancing years. Keen to always stress that she never has a day off from her red boxes, the message from Buckingham Palace is always that she is the one pushing her own workload rather than anyone else.

I also understand that she loathed lockdown (and wearing face masks) so much that she threw herself into work following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh in April, largely because seeing people face to face genuinely helped her to overcome her grief.

At 95, and working well beyond retirement age, it is hugely admirable that the Sovereign wants to be ever present. Last week, she was at a Royal British Legion event on Tuesday, a Buckingham Palace reception on Wednesday, the opening of the Senedd in Cardiff on Thursday, at British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday and the night before she was admitted to King Edward VII’S Hospital, she was once again wining and dining world leaders at Windsor Castle.

Now we hear that she is “back at her desk undertaking light duties”. Why? With Cop26 fast approaching, and the Queen determined to lead the British welcome party, surely she could do with a complete break until she travels to Glasgow to open the climate change summit on October 31.

We are not just talking about the head of state here, but the grandmother of the nation. And if it was your granny you would be insisting that she put her feet up.