After being put to rest by her doctors, Queen Elizabeth II, 95, spent the night from Wednesday to Thursday in the hospital to undergo “preliminary examinations”, announced the Buckingham Palace.
“Following the medical advice recommending her to rest for a few days, the Queen went to the hospital on Wednesday afternoon for preliminary examinations and returned to Windsor Castle at lunch time” Thursday, the palace wrote in a brief statement.
She “keeps good morale,” he added.
According to the PA news agency, the Queen’s brief hospitalization in recent hours took place at the private Edward VII Hospital in central London, where her husband Philip had been hospitalized several times before her death in April.
Despite her age, Philip’s death in April and the COVID-19 pandemic, the British sovereign continues to participate in public events as she prepares to celebrate her 70 years on the throne in 2022. He has not been known to have serious health problems in recent years.
She appeared again Tuesday at a reception at Windsor Castle, near London, in the presence of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, businessman Bill Gates or US climate envoy John Kerry. Visibly in good shape, she shook hands without gloves and stood chatting with the guests, without a mask.
But on Wednesday, she had canceled a visit to Northern Ireland after “reluctantly accepting” her doctors’ advice to rest.
Her stay in the hospital was to be limited to consultations with specialists but it was decided that she would stay there overnight for “practical” reasons, according to the same source, who specifies that she then returned to her office. for “light tasks”.
Busy agenda
The sovereign holds the record for longevity on the British throne, which she acceded to almost 70 years ago, in 1952.
Despite regular speculation about a withdrawal, especially after the death in April of her husband Philip at the age of 99, the 16-kingdom ruler of state continues to participate in numerous events in public.
If she no longer travels abroad and is represented there by the heir to the crown, Prince Charles, her son, she participated in the G7 summit by receiving US President Joe Biden in June, hands over decorations and receives new ambassadors to the UK, sometimes by videoconference.
Since the beginning of October, Elizabeth II has participated almost daily in public engagements in different places. She notably attended a mass at Westminster Abbey on the 12th, delivered a speech in Cardiff, Wales on the 14th, or attended horse races, her passion, on the 16th in Ascot, near Windsor.
In Westminster, Elizabeth II was seen walking in public with a cane, a first since 2004. This was not the case during Tuesday’s reception.
The sovereign is expected at the COP26 climate conference in early November in Glasgow, Scotland.
Tuesday, the British magazine The Oldie had indicated that the queen had refused the prize which it gives each year to an elderly person: “Her Majesty thinks that one is of the age which one feels and therefore does not think of fulfilling. the criteria for accepting, ”his services had indicated in the letter of refusal.