The monarch acknowledged a mobility problem while speaking with official guests at Windsor Castle
Queen Elizabeth II has made a rare admission about her health during an audience with outgoing and incoming secretaries of the defense services at Windsor Castle on Wednesday.
A short video released after the 95-year-old monarch’s meeting with Rear Admiral James Macleod and Major General Eldon Millar showed the queen leaning on a walking stick and welcoming her guests. Answering the visitors’ questions about how she was feeling, Elizabeth replied, “Well, as you can see, I can’t move,” and pointed to her left leg.
According to British media, the queen’s remark is understood to have meant she was feeling stiff rather than being ill or injured.
The audience with Macleod and Millar was the monarch’s first in-person engagement following a recent royal family Covid scare. Several days ago, her eldest son and heir, Prince Charles, and his wife Camilla tested positive for coronavirus, shortly after seeing the queen. Buckingham Palace refused to comment on Elizabeth’s own test results, simply saying she was not showing any symptoms.
Last year, the queen – who spent a night in the hospital in October – limited her official workload for several weeks following the advice of her doctors. A back injury later forced her to miss Remembrance Sunday services in November.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the queen’s accession to the British throne. However, so far the landmark event has been overshadowed by a series of scandals involving various members of the royal family, notably a sexual abuse lawsuit against the monarch’s second son, Prince Andrew.
On Wednesday, just a day after the prince had agreed on a settlement with his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, the Metropolitan Police announced it had launched an investigation into reports that one of Prince Charles’ charities offered a Saudi businessman honors and citizenship in exchange for donations.
