LONDON— Queen Elizabeth won’t attend the United Nations climate change conference in Scotland next week after doctors advised her to rest, the second high-profile event the British monarch has pulled out of in recent weeks.
The queen was due to attend an evening reception at the COP26 summit in Glasgow on Monday. Buckingham Palace said the 95-year-old will instead make an address to the delegates via videoconference. The palace said that the queen was undertaking “light duties” at Windsor Castle and that she “regretfully decided she can no longer travel to Glasgow.”
Last week, the queen spent a night in the hospital for what the palace called “preliminary investigations.”
She had earlier been advised to take a few days of rest and had canceled a long-planned trip to Northern Ireland.
At the time of the Northern Ireland trip, officials said that the queen, who typically keeps a busy official schedule, wasn’t suffering from Covid-19 and had been advised to step back from some engagements. Last Thursday, the palace described the monarch as in good spirits, but it hasn’t elaborated further on the cause of her hospitalization or the status of her health.
Queen Elizabeth appeared on a screen via videolink from Windsor Castle on Tuesday to virtually welcome envoys from South Korea.
Photo: Victoria Jones/Zuma Press
On Tuesday she held two virtual audiences with new ambassadors to Britain from South Korea and Switzerland, her first official engagements since her night in hospital.
Queen Elizabeth, who is the nation’s longest-serving monarch, recently waded into the climate debate when she was overheard on a microphone saying it was irritating when leaders “talk but don’t do.”
She is the latest dignitary to say they won’t attend the climate event, which is hosted by the U.K. Several leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping aren’t expected to attend amid Covid-19 restrictions. Other members of the British royal family are due to attend.
Since her husband Prince Philip died in April at 99 years of age, the monarch maintained a busy schedule. This month the queen attended an engagement at Westminster Abbey using a cane. The queen was recently photographed meeting and smiling with business leaders at a reception at Windsor Castle.
Write to Max Colchester at [email protected]
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