Queen Elizabeth home resting after hospitalization, canceling trip
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Queen Elizabeth II is "reluctantly" taking a few days off.
The 95-year-old monarch is resting at Windsor Castle on doctor's orders after canceling a scheduled trip to Northern Ireland.
Buckingham Palace announced that she "reluctantly accepted medical advice" to take a few days off but remains in "good spirits."
On Thursday evening, her spokespeople added that the queen had gone to the hospital on Wednesday afternoon and returned to Windsor the following day at lunchtime.
The scrapped trip to Ireland marks a rare occurrence of the queen canceling an engagement.
"Cancelling an important trip to Northern Ireland isn’t insignificant," NBC News royal commentator Daisy McAndrew said on TODAY Thursday. "This was also a visit that she cared about deeply."
The queen's last known health issue was in 2017 when she skipped a New Year's Day church visit due to a bad cold.
"She likes to be busy," McAndrew said. "She likes to be visible. And she doesn’t like to appear vulnerable. She thinks that showing herself to be strong and fit is part of her duty."
After conducting much of her business over Zoom early in the pandemic, she has had a busy couple of months back out in public after mourning the loss of her husband, Prince Philip, who died at 99 in April.
She appeared at the British Parliament in May, then joined G7 leaders at Cornwall, welcomed President Joe Biden to Windsor Castle and enjoyed her official birthday parade, all in June.
Already this month, she has been seen making a speech in Scotland remembering her late husband, planting trees, attending horse races, and traveling to Wales for the first time in five years.
She also has been seen using a cane, which is not out of the ordinary for a 95-year-old, but marked the first time in 20 years that the queen has been seen using a walking aid of any kind.
As recently as Tuesday night, she was greeting dignitaries like former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Microsoft mogul Bill Gates at an event at Windsor Castle.
A day after Buckingham Palace released the statement about the queen taking some rest, there's no suggestion it's more serious than a few days off. The palace also noted that the queen anticipates a future visit to Northern Ireland after cancelling her two-day trip.
