Queen Elizabeth II will not be attending COP26, the 26th edition of the Climate Conference of the Parties (COP) which begins on October 31 in Glasgow, Scotland (UK). The 95-year-old sovereign, hospitalized one night less than a week ago, had yet appeared this Tuesday at midday all smiles, in a dapper yellow dress, for a virtual audience with two new ambassadors to the United Kingdom, since Windsor Castle in West London. But a few hours later, Buckingham Palace announced that she would have to ease off again. “Following a notice advising her to rest, the Queen performs light duties at Windsor Castle”, the palace said in a statement. “Her Majesty is disappointed that she cannot attend the reception, but she will address the assembled delegates through a recorded video message. “, added the same source.
This trip to the climate conference was eagerly awaited, as the royal family has been committed to environmental issues in recent weeks. Elizabeth II herself had come out of her usual reserve mid-October by expressing his irritation at world leaders who “talk” climate change, but “do not act”, in a private conversation captured on the sidelines of a speech.
First hospitalization since 2013
The virtual audiences granted Tuesday to the ambassadors of South Korea and Switzerland were his first public appearance since October 19. She had canceled a visit to Northern Ireland the next day after her doctors had recommended that she rest. The queen then spent the night from Wednesday to Thursday at the hospital, officially after undergoing examinations there “preliminary”.
The fact that Buckingham did not reveal this hospitalization until late, his first since 2013, had raised questions and criticism about the lack of transparency on the part of the palace. For royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams, the queen is undoubtedly “very disapointed” for having had to cancel his trip to COP26. “It was a decision they took reluctantly”, he told AFP, “but it is a reasonable decision”. “She knows that an event has a special cachet if she attends it, that’s why she does what she can”, he added, stressing however that the “Prince of Wales and other members of the royal family” will be there to represent her in Glasgow.
“Robust”
Monarch for nearly 70 years, the queen, who is due to celebrate her next year platinum jubilee, continues to display good form in public. Until her hospitalization, she had participated almost daily in official engagements. She was recently seen walking with a cane, a first since 2004.
A source close to the sovereign, quoted by the Sunday Times, admitted that Elizabeth II was “punctured” due to his busy schedule. According to the newspaper, she gave up on medical advice her lunch gin and Dubonnet and her evening Martini.
Holder of record of longevity in the history of the British monarchy, the Queen remains much loved in the United Kingdom and around the world, praised for having known how to preserve the monarchy despite the major transformations during her reign, from decolonization to Brexit, and despite the many crises such as the death of Princess Diana in 1997 Or more recently, the shattering withdrawal of his grandson Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, who left for California, or the accusations of sexual assault targeting his son Andrew.
Despite regular speculation about the hypothesis of a withdrawal, especially after the death in April of her husband Philip at the age of 99, Elizabeth II, head of state of 16 kingdoms, keeps a busy agenda. However, she no longer travels abroad, where she is represented by her son Prince Charles, 72, much less popular. “It is clear that at 95, there are limits “, explains Richard Fitzwilliams. Corn “the queen is rather robust “. She has “been photographed no later than June on horseback “, he recalls.