Queen Elizabeth II LIVE Updates: Her eldest son, Charles, 73, succeeds as king immediately, according to centuries of protocol, beginning a new, less certain chapter for the royal family after the queen’s record-breaking 70-year reign
chapter for the royal family after the queen’s record-breaking 70-year reign. Royal family members, including Prince William, were at her Balmoral residence in Scotland.
The announcement comes a day after the 96-year-old head of state, Britain’s longest-serving monarch, pulled out of a planned meeting with her senior political advisers and was told to rest. The queen has been dogged by health problems since October last year that left her with difficulties walking and standing.
“Following further evaluation this morning, the Queen’s doctors are concerned for Her Majesty’s health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement. “The Queen remains comfortable and at Balmoral,” the palace added.
The previous day the queen held audiences at Balmoral with outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson and appointed his successor, Liz Truss.
‘Deeply concerned’
The palace statement about the queen’s health is highly unusual and comes after she has looked visibly frailer in recent months, and a succession of withdrawals from public engagements. She has taken to walking with the help of a stick and was also seen earlier this year at the Chelsea Flower Show touring the site in a motorised buggy.
“The palace does not issue bulletins on the queen’s health unless it’s significant,” royal commentator and author Robert Hardman told the BBC.
In February, the queen was laid low by a bout of Covid that she admitted had left her “exhausted”. In an official statement, the palace has said only that the queen has been suffering from “episodic mobility problems” but given no further details. She spent an unscheduled night in hospital in central London in October 2021 and was advised to slow down.
Moments before the announcement by the palace, notes were passed to Truss and senior members of her team in parliament, prompting them to leave the chamber. Truss gave a statement in the House of Commons and tweeted almost immediately afterwards.
She said the whole country “will be deeply concerned” and that her thoughts and the thoughts of the people across United Kingdom were with “Her Majesty The Queen and her family”.
Global figure
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the highest-ranking cleric in the Church of England that the queen heads, said the queen was in his prayers. “May God’s presence strengthen and comfort Her Majesty, her family, and those who are caring for her at Balmoral,” he tweeted.
Political leaders from Britain’s devolved nations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, also sent their best wishes.
Elizabeth marked seven decades on the throne this year and is in her Platinum Jubilee year since succeeding her father George VI in 1952. Four days of public events were held to mark the record-breaking occasion, but she made only two appearances to acknowledge the massive crowds in central London. She has increasingly handed over duties to son Prince Charles and other members of the royal family in recent months as she has struggled to get around.
As well as the UK, the queen is also head of state in 14 Commonwealth countries around the world, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand. She also heads the Commonwealth grouping, which comprises 56 nations and takes in more than a quarter of humanity.
For most of her subjects, she is the only monarch they have ever known, featuring on stamps, banknotes and coins, and immortalised in popular culture. But Britons were forced to acknowledge that her reign was in its twilight years, when her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, died in April 2021, just weeks shy of his 100th birthday.
In recent years, she has been forced to face a succession of scandals involving senior royals, including her second son Prince Andrew, for links to the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Harry and Meghan also rocked the palace by quitting royal life and criticising the institution, even accusing it of racism.
