UK’s Queen Elizabeth postpones meeting, told to rest by doctors

Queen Elizabeth welcomes Liz Truss during an audience where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government, at Balmoral Castle, Scotland, Britain September 6, 2022. Jane Barlow/Pool via REUTERS

LONDON — Britain’s Queen Elizabeth was forced to cancel a planned virtual meeting with ministers on Wednesday after being advised to rest by her doctors, a day after the 96-year-old monarch appointed Liz Truss as the country’s new prime minister.

“After a full day yesterday, Her Majesty has this afternoon accepted doctors’ advice to rest,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement. “This means that the Privy Council meeting that had been due to take place this evening will be rearranged.”

The queen is currently at her Scottish home, Balmoral Castle, where Boris Johnson formally resigned on Tuesday as prime minister and shortly afterwards, where Truss was appointed his successor and the 15th premier of Elizabeth’s reign.

The monarch has been suffering from what Buckingham Palace has called “episodic mobility problems” since the end of last year, which have forced her to cut back on engagements since then and reduce her public appearances.

Buckingham Palace gave no further details about the queen’s health but said the latest advice from her doctors did not involve hospitals. She will remain at Balmoral, the palace said.

The virtual meeting of the Privy Council would have seen Truss take her oath as First Lord of the Treasury, as well as the swearing in of new cabinet ministers and their appointment as privy counsellors if they did not already occupy this role.

Last week, the queen was forced to miss the Braemar Highland Gathering in Scotland for the first time since she came to the throne 70 years ago because of mobility issues.

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