Regretful Queen obliged to watch Remembrance service on TV

‘Nobody regrets the Queen’s absence more deeply than Her Majesty herself’

THE QUEEN missed the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph for health reasons for the first time in her reign, as a sprained back left her unable to lead the nation in commemorations.

The Queen, who is 95, injured her back shortly before the annual Remembrance service she holds dear, leaving her watching the annual service on television at home in Windsor Castle.

The Prime Minister said the Queen was “very well”, during a Downing Street press conference yesterday. Boris Johnson said: “I know that everybody will be wanting to offer their best wishes to Her Majesty the Queen and I just wanted to reassure everybody by saying that I did see the Queen for an audience last week on Wednesday in Windsor and she’s very well.”

Buckingham Palace said it was with “great regret” that Her Majesty was compelled to pull out of the planned appearance on the balcony overlooking the Cenotaph, leaving her deeply disappointed.

The event is central to her calendar, and sees her join her own Second World War generation to pay her respects to those who lost their lives for freedom. “Nobody regrets the Queen’s absence more deeply than Her Majesty herself,” a source said.

The sprained back follows a period of ill health for the Queen, which has now seen her take an unprecedented three weeks of rest on doctor’s orders.

Following an overnight hospital stay for preliminary tests, she pulled out of a series of high-profile events she had been determined to attend, including Cop26 and the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall.

On Thursday, Buckingham Palace confirmed the Queen would be at the all-important Cenotaph service, for her first Remembrance Sunday since the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, who was mentioned in dispatches for his own military service.

As head of the Armed Forces, the Queen places special importance on Remembrance, and was understood to be determined to attend despite medi- cal advice to undertake “light duties” only.

Yesterday morning, two hours before the service, Buckingham Palace announced: “The Queen, having sprained her back, has decided this morning with great regret that she will not be able to attend today’s Remembrance Sunday Service at the Cenotaph. Her Majesty is disappointed that she will miss the service.”

The injury is understood to be unconnected to her recent illness, and was described by a source as “incredibly unfortunate timing”.

It left the Queen unable to make the car journey from Windsor Castle to London for the service, and too uncomfortable to stand.

The live event would have seen her stand for around 20 minutes, in front of cameras and the watching public, as she watched the service from the balcony of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office building.

The injury will compound the discomfort that has already left the Queen using a walking stick on official engagements, and will prohibit her from enjoying her favourite hobbies of horse riding and walking her dogs.

She hopes to continue a schedule of light duties next week, taken to mean telephone and video call audiences as well as reading her red boxes.

The Palace has already confirmed she will miss the five-yearly General Synod, the national assembly for the Church of England, for the first time in its 51-year history.

A wreath was laid on behalf of the Queen by the Prince of Wales, with the Duchess of Cornwall, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Earl and Countess of Wessex, the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.

In what would have been the Queen’s place on the balcony stood her 86-yearold cousin the Duke of Kent, with his sister Princess Alexandra at his side. The crowd’s rendition of God Save the

Queen was said to be sung with particular meaning, as the thoughts of those attending turned to their absent monarch thought to be watching at home on television.

The Queen has not missed the Cenotaph service since 1999, when she was on an overseas visit to South Africa.

The Remembrance Sunday service is deeply important to the Queen, who has always placed huge emphasis on her gratitude and respect for military veterans and their families.

Living through the Second World War herself, she has in recent years found herself among the oldest of those attending, leading tributes from a balcony overlooking the Cenotaph.

Until the age of 91, she laid a wreath, only passing that symbolic duty over to the Prince of Wales in 2017.

The Queen has previously missed the Cenotaph service four times because she has been overseas on tours – in 1961, 1968, 1983 and 1999, and twice before the births of her two younger children.

Baroness Scotland, the Commonwealth secretary-general, said there would be “a lot of sadness” that the “much-loved” Queen had to pull out of attending the service.

“She is the beating heart of most of the love that is in the Commonwealth, so we do wish her well,” she said.