Queen Camilla Forced To Pull Out Of Royal Events Due To Sickness

Nov 06, 2024

Health woes have forced Queen Camilla to pull out of her scheduled royal engagements this week, a few days after her return from a tour of Australia and Samoa with King Charles last Wednesday. Buckingham Palace stated that Camilla was suffering from a chest infection and that doctors had advised her to rest at home for a short period. 

This means the 77-year-old will not be present for the opening of the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey on Thursday. The Duchess of Gloucester, Birgitte, will take her place. The 78-year-old working royal originally from Denmark is married to a cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Camilla will also leave King Charles to host an event at Buckingham Palace on Thursday evening for Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Princess Anne is due to step in due to Camilla’s absence.

The Palace, however, implied there was no cause for alarm when it stated Camilla would likely be able to attend Remembrance events at the weekend, including the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday and a commemorative service at the Cenotaph in Whitehall on Sunday morning.

“She apologises to all those who may be inconvenienced or disappointed as a result,” an official statement read.

The optimism and speediness surrounding the Queen’s recovery suggest her illness is not serious and was more than likely the usual bug picked up from a long travel period. Camilla and Charles's tour of Australia and Samoa began in Sydney on Oct. 13, 2024, and ended in Samoa nine days later. After the tour, Camilla made a stopover in India on the way back to England to visit a health spa.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer took to social media to wish Queen Camilla well, saying:

“On behalf of the whole country, I wish Her Majesty The Queen a speedy recovery.”

This year has brought several health challenges for the royal family. Early in the year, King Charles and his daughter-in-law, Catherine, Princess of Wales, both made their cancer diagnoses public and temporarily stepped back from royal duties for treatment and recovery. In recent months, King Charles has returned to many of his public duties while Catherine attended the Trooping the Colour in June and made a handful of public appearances since. She also revealed she had finished a round of chemotherapy in September.

Meanwhile, Camilla has also endured physical injuries over the years. Camilla was said to have suffered a flare-up of sinusitis the week before her wedding to Charles in 2005. In 2007, at the age of 59, Camilla underwent a hysterectomy, a procedure that a spokesperson explained was not related to cancer.  

Camilla’s health came under scrutiny in 2023 during a trip to Kenya, where eagle-eyed royal watchers spotted Camilla’s hands shaking.

Apart from illnesses, Camilla has also suffered from a few physical accidents. During the funeral events for Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, Camilla was recovering from a broken toe.

“She is in quite a lot of pain but she is just getting on with it. It is unfortunate timing to say the least but she’s been an absolute trouper,” a source told The Telegraph.

In 2010, during a walk at Charles’ Highland retreat on the Balmoral estate, the then-Duchess of Cornwall was 62 years old when she “took a tumble” while traversing the estate’s spacious grounds during the Easter break. Camilla was out of commission until after the break, with her leg in a plaster cast.

What are your thoughts on Queen Camilla’s health woes and her latest bout of illness? Do you hope she will return for the Remembrance events at the weekend? Let us know, and then pass this along to fellow royal watchers, too.