The Queen has postponed her Privy Council meeting after being advised by royal doctors to rest, Buckingham Palace has confirmed. The news comes a day after the 96-year-old monarch was pictured in a historic audience with Liz Truss, as she appointed her as the new Prime Minister.
A Palace spokesman said: "After a full day yesterday, Her Majesty has this afternoon accepted doctors' advice to rest. This means that the Privy Council meeting that had been due to take place this evening will be rearranged."
The Queen remains at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire. The latest advice does not involve a hospital stay, but the news will raise fresh concerns for her health.
The nation's longest-reigning monarch has ongoing mobility issues and had been due to hold the Privy Council virtually today (September 7). During the proceedings, Ms Truss would have taken her oath as First Lord of the Treasury and new cabinet ministers would have been sworn into their roles, and also made privy counsellors if not already appointed as one in past.
There is no constitutional issue with the delay to the proceedings, the Palace said. The smiling head of state looked bright but frail and used a walking stick during Tuesday's audience, which followed a visit from outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he tendered his resignation.
It was the first time in her 70-year reign that the Queen has appointed a Prime Minister at Balmoral. The Queen is on her summer break on the Balmoral estate, and not due to return until early October.
Buckingham Palace has declined to give an ongoing commentary on the monarch's health. She secretly spent a night in hospital in October undergoing tests and was then under doctors' orders to rest for the next three months, missing the Remembrance Sunday Cenotaph service and COP26 climate change talks.
The Queen caught Covid in February, and suffered from mild cold-like symptoms but said the virus left her "very tired and exhausted".
