Queen Elizabeth will not attend the summer’s traditional royal garden parties, Buckingham Palace has announced, in the latest development to fuel fears over the 96-year-old British monarch’s health. The parties typically involve the queen standing for protracted periods of time greeting guests, and the palace has said in recent months that she is struggling with pain in her back and general stiffness.
The queen’s non-appearance at the four garden parties—three in London and one in Scotland—the first since the pandemic, will inevitably deepen wider concerns about her health and her ability to attend key events of the Platinum Jubilee, which starts in just four week’s time. Buckingham Palace has been briefing journalists that the queen is unlikely to attend many events, and it has even been suggested that she may not make an in-person appearance at all.