Queen cancels visit to Sandringham WI as she ‘has a cold’

The Queen is known for her strong constitution and no fuss approach to her infrequent illnesses.

The 93-year-old head of state has missed her annual visit to the Sandringham Women’s Institute due to a slight cold.

Elizabeth II, who is the nation’s longest reigning monarch, has spent the last couple of weeks dealing with the crisis surrounding the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, after Harry and Meghan decided to walk away from royal life.

Earlier this month, the Queen was spotted wearing a hearing aid in public for what is believed to be the first time while attending church in Norfolk.

The Queen may be in her nineties, but she still maintains a diary of royal engagements, and each day, deals with her red box of official papers, even when on her traditional winter break at Sandringham.

In 2016, she called time on her overseas travels, leaving long-haul destinations to the younger members of her family.

Her son the Duke of York once described her as being incredibly fit for her age.

The monarch still rides her Fell ponies at Windsor, and drives, mainly around her private estates.

She missed the christening of her great-grandson Prince Louis in July 2018, but not because of illness.

It was mutually agreed in advance by the monarch and the Cambridges that the Queen would not attend the celebration, which fell at the beginning of a busy week of engagements including the centenary of the RAF and a visit by US President Donald Trump.

On June 28 2018, the Queen pulled out of a service at St Paul’s Cathedral because she was feeling ‘under the weather’.

In May 2018, the head of state had eye surgery to remove a cataract.

She was treated as a day patient and did not cancel any engagements nor appearances, but was spotted wearing sunglasses.

In November 2017, the Prince of Wales led the nation in honouring the country’s war dead on Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph.

It was the first time that the Queen, as head of state, had watched the ceremony from a nearby balcony, and was seen as a sign of the royal family in transition and an acknowledgement of her age.

Just before Christmas 2016, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh 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’.

She turned 90 in 2016 and, the same year, used 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 arrangements were made for ‘the Queen’s comfort’.

The decision was attributed to the Queen suffering from knee pain.

At the state opening of October 2019, the Queen wore the lighter George IV Diadem throughout, rather than switching into the heavy Imperial State Crown.

In 2014, the Prince of Wales stood in for the Queen for part of the Order of the Bath service to avoid her having to make an extra journey up and down some steep steps in full regalia.

In November 2013, the Duke of Cambridge stepped in to represent the Queen at an investiture ceremony after she suffered some ‘mild discomfort’ with her ankle after a busy weekend of engagements including the service of remembrance at the Cenotaph.

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.

On March 3 2013, she was admitted to King Edward VII’s Hospital to be assessed.

A week of engagements, including a two-day trip to Rome, was cancelled.

The Queen spent one night in hospital and left thanking staff and smiling before being driven to Buckingham Palace to rest.

It was thought her public appearances were back on track until Buckingham Palace announced on the morning of the Commonwealth Day Observance service on March 11 that she regrettably could no longer attend ‘as she continues to recover following her recent illness’.

It was the first Commonwealth Day Observance service she had missed in 20 years, the last occasion being when she had flu in 1993.

The Queen, who placed great importance to her role as Head of the Commonwealth, did however attend the Commonwealth Reception at Marlborough House on the evening of March 11 to sign the new Commonwealth Charter.