At 95, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is not only the longest living reigning British
monarch in history, but also the oldest current monarch. So it's understandable
why the queen's most recent hospitalization on October 20, 2021, left many deeply concerned.
Here what's been revealed thus far about the queen's latest health scare.
Throughout her life, Queen Elizabeth II has enjoyed what most would consider
overall "good health." Moreover, on the rare occasions when it's been
revealed that the queen is dealing with some health-related matter,
it has never ended up proving to be an imminent matter of life and death.
In 2013, she was admitted to a hospital with gastrointestinal complaints,
according to the Guardian. It was her first hospitalization in a decade,
however, and she was released the next day.
In 2016, when the queen had to skip a Christmas church service,
it was for a bad cold, and she was back in the public eye soon after. When the queen
underwent cataract surgery in May 2018, it was an "uncomplicated" procedure and presumably elective.
In addition, the queen has undergone knee surgeries over the years,
but all have gone smoothly and without complication. All of this
is to say that if the queen's health history is any indication,
one might predict that her latest health scare will turn out to be insignificant as usual.
More than six months have passed since Prince Philip died at age 99,
and that happens to be three months longer than a 2013 study published
in the Journal of Public Health might have predicted that Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth II might have survived in the wake of the death of her longtime spouse.
As that study suggested, during the three months after the death of a spouse,
the survivor's chances of dying are increased. The queen sailed past that statistic, however,
going so far as to maintain what the New York Times refers to as "an energetic public presence."
"Oh! Of course, it's 'Good morning,' isn't it, to you."
In May, the queen was present at the opening of Parliament.
In June, she hosted President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at Windsor Castle.
And as recently as the third week of October, the queen was flat-out rejecting
the notion that she should be counted as an "oldie," according to the Associated Press.
What happened there was that the monthly magazine "The Oldie" wanted to honor Queen
Elizabeth II with the title of "Oldie of the Year." Although this honor,
which would put Her Majesty in the company of such accomplished Brits
as Prime Minister John Major and artist David Hockney, was declined by the queen.
By all accounts, Queen Elizabeth II appeared to be in as excellent health as ever on Tuesday, October
19, 2021. That was when she spent the evening rubbing elbows with the likes of billionaire
tech mogul Bill Gates, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The Queen was at a reception for the Global Investment Summit,
which has been described as a "green investment conference" convened by Johnson
as part of the leadup to the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference, COP26,
taking place starting October 31 and continuing through November 12. In fact,
the queen actually played host at the evening's festivities. Moreover, she did so without a mask.
In a forward she wrote for the Global Investment Summit, she described her commitment to "working
together across the globe to avert the challenges of climate change," according to People magazine.
The queen was apparently looking forward to participating in COP26,
and if energy and enthusiasm on the evening of October 19 was any indication,
one might assume that the queen's health was not at issue at this time. However,
what happened next proved shocking and sobering for her loyal fans.
The day after hosting a celebrity-studded reception for the Global Investment Summit, Queen
Elizabeth II was expected to travel to Northern Ireland, along with British Prime Minister Boris
Johnson, to attend, among other events, a church service marking Northern Ireland's centennial.
However, the trip would have to be rescheduled,
Buckingham Palace announced on October 20. The palace stated that the queen
had "reluctantly accepted medical advice to rest for the next few days."
No other official information regarding the queen's health was offered at the time by
Buckingham Palace. The New York Times did report, however, that "the decision to rest [was] not
related to COVID-19," according to people with "ties to the palace." One individual believed
the circumstances to be a, quote, "case of overexertion by a monarch who returned
to a grueling public schedule after spending more than a year in self-imposed quarantine."
Many people assumed the queen was doing her "resting" at Windsor Castle,
according to the Daily Beast, and it was also assumed that the queen's plans to attend
the COP26 conference would not be affected. Neither assumption proved correct, however.
On October 21, Buckingham Palace broke the news that the queen had actually gone to the hospital
on October 20 and had spent that night there. After having spent Wednesday at King Edward VII's
Hospital in London for unspecified "preliminary investigations," the queen was home and in "good
spirits" at Windsor Castle by lunchtime on Thursday, according to CBS News.
"A royal source told us tonight that she stayed in the hospital
overnight because it was too late for her to be driven home in the evening."
At that point, people with ties to the palace were still maintaining that the
queen had canceled her trip to Northern Ireland solely because she was, quote, "exhausted after
a hectic series of public events," as reported by the New York Times. However,
it was difficult to ignore that Buckingham Palace announced the queen's hospital stay
only after this very information had already been leaked to the Sun.
As a result, the palace has been accused of attempting to "conceal" material information
regarding the queen's health, which, according to the Daily Beast, raises the question,
"What else is not being revealed?" Ultimately, even those who may not have been concerned for
the queen earlier in the week now had reason to feel uneasy about the state of her health.
ABC News reported that Queen Elizabeth II had returned to Windsor Castle following
a one-night stay in the hospital for "preliminary investigations," noting,
"She returned to her Windsor Castle home at lunchtime on Thursday and was
understood to be back at her desk by afternoon, undertaking light duties."
Soon after, Page Six and others were reporting that the queen had "resumed her royal duties."
HuffPost reported on October 26 that the queen took two virtual appointments from Windsor Castle.
So does this mean that the queen's recent health scare amounts to nothing more than a false alarm?
“This is the first time is eight years that the queen has spent a night in hospital,
so understandably, there is concern."
According to royal expert Robert Hardman, it is fully within normal royal protocol
for Buckingham Palace to not make an announcement if a senior member of the
royal family is admitted to the hospital to undergo testing. He told the BBC,
"The rule of thumb is that if a senior member of the royal family undergoes a
procedure or an operation, there is a medical bulletin."
Hardman's theory is that the intense focus on the queen's health really just reflects, quote,
"the great affection the global community has for the monarch."
On the other hand, not everyone is convinced. The BBC reports that
there are still many royal watchers who suspect the palace has not been
giving the world a complete picture with regard to the queen's health.
Despite the queen going back to work almost as soon as she returned home from her overnight
hospital stay and taking virtual meetings, the queen's health scare may not be over just yet.
On October 24, the Sun reported that the queen skipped church services that day, which is
disconcerting to those who know that the deeply religious queen rarely skips church services.
Moreover, as the Sun reported, the queen's decision to skip church services was not
necessarily her choice; rather it had been made on "doctors' advice." In fact,
the Royal Observer reported that same day that the queen's calendar would henceforth be modified to
reflect her advancing age such that she will be having other senior members of the royal family
step in for her with regard to some of the "smaller" events and duties.
On October 24, the Sun also noted that Buckingham Palace insiders were chalking up any modifications
to the queen's schedule to her desire to "save her energy" for the upcoming COP26 climate conference,
which she regards as a high priority. However, since then,
it appears that the queen's plans to attend that conference have changed.
On Tuesday, October 26, Buckingham Palace announced that "regretfully" Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth II had made the decision not to travel to Glasgow to attend the COP26 climate conference.
Although it is not yet clear whether the queen had been advised by her doctors to cancel her
appearance, it does appear that this decision was one that the queen did not take lightly.
First, the queen has been vocal about her commitment to addressing the climate crisis,
according to CNN. She’s even gone so far as to say that she feels, quote,
"upset by the lack of action on tackling the climate crisis." In addition, it has
been suggested that her no-show at COP26 stands to "dash the hopes" of Britain's government, anxious
as it is to "show the importance of the session to the fate of the planet," as reported by ABC News.
The queen's cancellation has, of course, done nothing to allay the concerns of those who
fear her health issues are more serious than what they've been led to believe. Nevertheless, at this
point, the queen is still planning to participate via remote link, according to Newsweek.
They say that hindsight is 20/20, so it's not surprising that some have
taken to speculating that perhaps the queen's recent health scare will end
up having a significant impact on the remainder of her reign,
but also that perhaps there have been signs over the past several months that her health
has been on the decline — signs that we somehow missed or that we discounted as unimportant.
Take, for example, the fact that the queen was advised by doctors in September to give
up her beloved hobby of riding horses. Although "she adores riding and it has been part of her
ritual for most of her life," as a source from Balmoral told the Sun, the queen's decision to
take a break from riding was made because she had been in, quote, "quite a bit of discomfort."
Additionally, while the queen has reportedly vowed to get back in the saddle as soon as possible,
there is certainly no evidence that her health has improved since September.
Further, it would appear that it is only in the wake of the queen's recent health scare
that any significant attention has been paid to the fact that the queen was seen
walking with a cane at Westminster Abbey in mid-October — for the first time ever,
save for when she was recovering from knee surgery in 2003, according to ABC News.
Over the course of the last several weeks, a number of developments have
put the world on notice that the health of Queen Elizabeth II may be on the decline.
"This is a pivotal moment for this monarchy."
To recap: In mid-October, less than a month after she announced she was taking a break
from horseback riding, the queen was observed to be walking with the aid of a cane. Days later,
she canceled her trip to Northern Ireland. That was followed by a night in the hospital and
an order by doctors to ease up her schedule. On October 24, she missed church — a rare occurrence,
and most recently, she canceled long-standing plans to travel to
Glasgow to attend an important international conference regarding the state of the climate,
a cause near and dear to the queen's heart. So, should we be worried about her, or what?
Not necessarily. Queen Elizabeth II has enjoyed a lifetime of radiant health. Second,
those close to her believe that she is in no way anxious to slow down. In addition, the queen has
repeatedly rejected the notion that she would ever give her reign over to a regency, according to the
International Business Times. Moreover, plans for the queen's 2022 Platinum Jubilee, celebrating her
70 years as monarch, are still going full steam ahead, according to the Royal Family's website.
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