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Queen to miss Rememberance Day service

565 replies

KenAdams · 14/11/2021 09:22

As she has apparently sprained her back.

I do wish the Palace would be honest about her health (without giving details) rather than setting her up to attend events that they know she won't be at. It can't be good for her, they should just say she's out for a while, which at her age would be completely understandable.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59280608

OP posts:
LakieLady · 14/11/2021 12:15

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

I'm sad that this is the last female monarch I'll see in my lifetime.

Charles, William then George....

Very few people have known a female monarch, we've only ever had a handful and one of those was a job-share.
FiremanSid · 14/11/2021 12:15

The first remembrance service I attended after my dad died I cried loads, it caught me by surprise - I completely lost it. If the royals look sad on the balcony it might just be that they're thinking about Philip. Also the year my dad died my mum pulled out of lots of funerals at the very last minute with made up health problems. It was just too much for her to face thinking about her bereavement in public with lots of eyes on her.

PickupaPenguin8 · 14/11/2021 12:16

@RobinPenguins

I pulled my back coughing a couple of weeks ago and I’m in mid 30s so it’s entirely possible.

That said, it’s probably an excuse for something else. I hope she’s feeling as ok as a 95 year old recently-widowed woman can be. It’s going to be very disconcerting for a lot of people when she dies, I feel like she’s a calming presence. She had that reassuring effect on me when they wheeled her out on the tv at the beginning of the first lockdown last year when people were still scared and panicky about covid.

I pulled mine too after wearing a rucksack in a walk weeks ago. It’s still not right. It’s perfectly possible she’s pulled her back.
the80sweregreat · 14/11/2021 12:16

Prince Charles is probably just concerned at the thought of having to do the job his spent his whole life waiting to do , especially as he isn't that young himself. I'm not being ' ageist ' here at all , but the majority of people are generally retired at his age to be honest and taking it easy !
I know I'd be a bit daunted by it and he must be aware he'll never be as popular as his mum too and people are not that keen on his wife either ( generally )
Can't be easy ..

SickAndTiredAgain · 14/11/2021 12:16

I also thought Charles nearly cried when he laid his first wreath was that on behalf of his mother?

Yes, he’s done it for a few years. Phillip’s wreath used to be laid by an equerry I think, like the duke of Kent’s was today.

Crunchymum · 14/11/2021 12:18

Let's hope George's firstborn is a girl.

As for the Queen, I'd rather not speculate. Whether you are for or against (or somewhere in-between) the Monarchy the Queen dying will be a big thing and I hope if she is poorly, it doesn't have to play out in the public eye.

the80sweregreat · 14/11/2021 12:22

Of course her death will be played out for weeks by the media. They had a week of it all for the Duke , it'll be even longer and more intrusive for the actual monarch , especially one who has been Queen for as long as she has.

WingingItSince1973 · 14/11/2021 12:27

I'm only 48 and have put my back out doing the most mundane of things. Bending over wrong, sitting incorrectly. The pain is excruciating and lasts for days. I also used to ride regularly and had many falls so I guess our backs are sensitive. But at 95 she will need to be even more careful.

DobbyTheHouseElk · 14/11/2021 12:30

For some it’s more than monarchy. She’s the head of the Church of England. No one is higher than her other than God.

HeronLanyon · 14/11/2021 12:31

Just tweaked my back hand washing large item in my bath. Had bizarre thought of her majesty ! What strange times, eh?

SunshineCake1 · 14/11/2021 12:31

@Puzzledandpissedoff

Surely you can all read between the lines?

Yes, of course
Even Philip attended the event in his last year, though he was clearly leaning against the wall, so it's likely the "big announcement" will follow before very long

Do you mean his last year before retiring as I'm pretty sure he wasn't there last year ?
Puzzledandpissedoff · 14/11/2021 12:33

Perhaps Phillip gave her more support and strength than we ever knew

She's said as much herself, as in "He has quite simply been my strength and stay all these years, and I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know"

And I really wouldn't have said, as another poster did, that folk are "rubbing their hands" over this. It reads to me more as a recognition that a big change is coming, and - change being unsettling - people liking to prepare for it

Poetrypatty · 14/11/2021 12:34

Of course her death will be played out for weeks by the media. They had a week of it all for the Duke , it'll be even longer and more intrusive for the actual monarch , especially one who has been Queen for as long as she has

Don't know about others but I am actually dreading this part. Of course her passing will be very sad and the end of an era. I think she's been a great monarch (and obviously I hope she gets well and carries on for many years.)

When she does pass away though I'm not interested in weeks and weeks of TV about it and everyone on social media and journalists putting in their opinions about it and the endless non stop dredging over everything which will inevitably occur.

Clun · 14/11/2021 12:38

Has everybody here attended the Cenotaph? Experienced the mood? I have regularly and there is a serious collective sense of bereavement and loss. For many people attending, you are always a moment away from full blown tears streaming. And some do. Many hardened people do.

RonaLisa · 14/11/2021 12:40

[quote AutumnAlmanack]@JudgeRindersMinder - I agree, it will be a terrible shock for the country when she does go, even if some people pretend to be quite nonchalant about it. It will be Diana all over again X 10, I think.[/quote]
A shock if someone aged 95 dies?

I don't think so.

Sparklingbrook · 14/11/2021 12:42

When she does pass away though I'm not interested in weeks and weeks of TV about it and everyone on social media and journalists putting in their opinions about it and the endless non stop dredging over everything which will inevitably occur

I'm with you there. you can see everyone coming out of the woodwork on TV and it'll be terrible on MN, thread after thread.

SunshineCake1 · 14/11/2021 12:44

@TheVolturi

I agree that Prince Charles looked really emotional. Which is expected, I mean even I get emotional during the silence, but he really did.
Reminds me when we saw the photo of him in the car after visiting Philip in hospital. I thought he looked very tearful. Today he looked very upset. I think the Queen is worrying him.
lollipoprainbow · 14/11/2021 12:45

I imagine the mood there is very atmospheric and sombre. I always blub during nimrod remembering my lovely mum. Why don't they zoom in the words 'glorious dead' anymore during it?

fudgecat · 14/11/2021 12:48

DH twinged his back yesterday trying to hang a huge mirror, maybe that's what she was doing too... Or maybe she's just 95

alfagirl73 · 14/11/2021 12:49

The Queen takes Remembrance very seriously - it's extremely important to her - so for her to miss it it's pretty significant.

I'm not sure I'm buying the "back sprain" explanation (although at 95 she is likely to have all nature of aches and pains)... but I rather suspect that she has been very unwell, has been advised not to go, she said she wanted to go and there's probably been a bit of debate as to whether she would attend or not. I'm guessing "back sprain" is easier and more dignified than "after days of bickering the Queen has finally agreed not to go under medical advice, but she's properly pissed off about it!".

She has always stuck to the vow she took and as far as she is concerned, she will be the monarch until the day she dies. She wouldn't abdicate unless she felt she had no option. Nevertheless, she's not long lost her husband and it's not uncommon for there to be a rapid decline in an older person after such a loss. I felt so sad for her at Philip's funeral... she looked so frail and vulnerable, bless her. Queen or not - she's an elderly woman who feels pain and sorrow like anyone else.

I rather get the feeling that there will be sad news before much longer... and I personally will be sad to see her gone. I do wish her a recovery in the meantime though... you never know - many women of her generation are very strong.

Can't say I'm thrilled at the prospect of Charles as King... I'd rather he passed on the job and just let William crack on, but I somehow feel that won't happen.

whynotwhatknot · 14/11/2021 12:52

watching the news 7am she was attending at that point then later has sprained her back

no impossible i guess but a little suspect

zingally · 14/11/2021 12:52

I think she's just a very, very old lady, who was recently widowed, and is now nearing the end of her life.

All this about taking 2 weeks off... now she's "sprained her back"... I think she's on her way out, and that her "team" are trying to give her a little bit of peace and quiet and privacy as she moves through her final weeks.

Honestly, I'll be a little bit surprised if she's still with us by the new year.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 14/11/2021 12:53

I think the Queen's passing will be the beginning of the end for the monarchy

Though that would suit me personally, I believe it'll depend on how long Charles lasts. Never forget they've got squeaky clean, popular W&K waiting in the wings and they'll make the very most of them

I had to smile about any announcement coming "in the evening" though, since they finished off George V in order to get his death in the morning papers. I'd hope that sort of thing wouldn't happen now, but who knows?

MamDancer · 14/11/2021 12:56

@AutumnAlmanack

I thought Camilla looked 'different' somehow - missed the singing.
She did seem a bit shakey.
CaveMum · 14/11/2021 12:57

It’s not just the obituaries that are updated on a regular basis, the funeral plans are too. It’s a fairly common occurrence for the roads around Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey to be closed in the middle of the night so the Household Cavalry can take the horses out and practice the route.

I believe the Queen’s funeral is referred to as Operation London Bridge.