08/09/2022
U.K. ROYAL FAMILY GATHERS AT BALMORAL AS QUEENâS HEALTH CONCERNS GROW
The queenâs doctors say they are âconcernedâ about her health.
LONDON â Queen Elizabeth IIâs health appeared to be deteriorating sharply on Thursday, with Buckingham Palace announcing that her doctors were âconcernedâ about her health as family members rushed to her side.
The queen, who is 96 and has reigned for 70 years, has been placed under medical supervision at Balmoral Castle, her estate in the Scottish Highlands, the palace said in a statement. On Wednesday evening, she abruptly canceled a virtual meeting with members of her Privy Council after her doctors advised her to rest.
âFollowing further evaluation this morning, the queenâs doctors are concerned for Her Majestyâs health and have recommended that she remain under medical supervision,â the palace said in a statement.
Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, and his wife, Camilla, traveled to be with the queen at Balmoral, where Elizabeth spends much of her summer, his office said. His eldest son, Prince William, who is second in line to the throne, was also making his way to Scotland, as were the queenâs other sons, Andrew and Edward. Her daughter, Princess Anne, was already there.
The details of the queenâs medical condition are not known, though the palace has said in the past that she has problems with mobility. She recovered from a bout with Covid-19 in February, but said later that it had left her exhausted.
In a photograph released by the palace on Tuesday of her and Britainâs new prime minister, Liz Truss, the queen held a walking stick in her left hand.
The queenâs declining health has been a recurring cause of concern for the past few years, forcing her to cancel many public appearances, even solemn events like her annual commemoration of Britainâs wartime dead.
She has largely retreated to Windsor Castle, her country residence outside London, though this year she kept to her summer habit of decamping for Balmoral, a castle set amid Scotlandâs craggy hills and sylvan dales.
During the Platinum Jubilee in June, marking her 70 years on the throne, a smiling monarch appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to watch a parade and a Royal Air Force flyover in her honor. But she skipped most of the rest of the celebrations, including a gala concert held in Queen Victoria Square, in front of the palace.
As the queen has receded from public view, Charles, her heir, has taken on many of her public duties, including the state opening of Parliament and the conferring of knighthoods. She stopped traveling outside Britain several years ago.
In April 2021, the queen lost her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, who died a few weeks before his 100th birthday. At Philipâs memorial service, she sat, masked and alone, in a choir stall at St. Georgeâs chapel in Windsor Castle, a poignant symbol of the pandemicâs social distancing restrictions.
Even in her declining state, the queen has been a constant, revered figure in the public life of the country. During the depths of the pandemic, she addressed a socially isolated nation, assuring Britons, in the words of Vera Lynnâs beloved World War II-era song, that âweâll meet again.â
