Britain’s Queen to miss Commonwealth Service post-COVID

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II will not be attending the annual Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey in London on Monday, Buckingham Palace said on Saturday. The 95-year-old monarch was due to attend the grand ceremony on March 14 as her first major in-person engagement since she tested positive for COVID-19 last month.

The palace did not give a specific reason for her absence, but it is not believed to be related to ill health and more to avoid the journey from her home at Windsor Castle in Berkshire to London. Her son and heir, Prince Charles, who was already attending the service will be representing the monarch instead.

“After discussing the arrangements with the royal household, the Queen has asked the Prince of Wales to represent Her Majesty at the Commonwealth service at Westminster Abbey on Monday,” a Buckingham Palace statement said.

“The Queen will continue with other planned engagements, including in-person audiences, in the week ahead,” the statement added.

The Queen will send a video message for the service, which is made up of music, poetry and speeches performed as a celebration of the Commonwealth family of nations. The service at Westminster Abbey will focus on the Platinum Jubilee of the Queen's reign being celebrated this year and will be addressed by the former Archbishop of York, John Sentamu.

Guests will include British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Commonwealth Secretary-General Lady Patricia Scotland, high commissioners, ambassadors, senior politicians and dignitaries from across the UK and Commonwealth, faith leaders and more than 600 schoolchildren and young people. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, members of the royal family expected to attend, will not be at the service next week after the Duke tested positive for COVID-19.

The annual Commonwealth Service, which is often referred to as being among the Queen’s favourites having missed only one in 2013 due to gastroenteritis, was one of two major events marked for this month's royal calendar – the second being a special service of thanksgiving for her late husband Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, on March 29. It has emerged that the Queen's grandson Prince Harry would not be travelling from the US for it as was expected.