LONDON (Reuters) -Queen Camilla, the wife of Britain’s King Charles, has been forced to pull out of her planned engagements this week after suffering a chest infection, Buckingham Palace said on Tuesday.
Camilla, 77, is resting at home while she recovers but no further details of her illness have been given, as is usual with royal medical issues.
“Her Majesty the Queen is currently unwell with a chest infection, for which her doctors have advised a short period of rest,” a palace spokesperson said.
“With great regret, Her Majesty has therefore had to withdraw from her engagements for this week, but she very much hopes to be recovered in time to attend this weekend’s Remembrance events as normal.”
The illness means Camilla, Charles’s second wife who he married in 2005, will miss this year’s Field of Remembrance event at London’s Westminster Abbey on Thursday which allows former service personnel and others to plant a poppy memorial to remember those who have lost their lives in the armed forces.
She will also be unable to attend a reception for Olympic and Paralympic medal winners from this year’s Paris Games.
“She apologises to all those who may be inconvenienced or disappointed as a result,” the palace spokesperson said. Her place will be taken at Westminster Abbey by the Duchess of Gloucester.
The king himself is still undergoing treatment for cancer which was diagnosed back in February, forcing him to cut back on some of his engagements although he recently travelled with Camilla to Australia and Samoa.
The couple enjoyed a stopover at a holistic health centre in India on the way back.
“On behalf of the whole country, I wish Her Majesty the Queen a speedy recovery,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on X.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by William James and Sachin Ravikumar)
