Queen Elizabeth Skipped The Annual Commonwealth Day Service

Queen Elizabeth is the world’s oldest, most powerful living monarch, but she’s also a working royal, which means if there’s something to show up to, The Queen shows up to it. If I were the world’s oldest, most powerful monarch, I’d bail out on just about anything that doesn’t involve trays with little puff pastry snacks or a fancy carriage ride. But I clearly don’t have Liz’s work ethic. Recently, though, 95-year-old Queen Elizabeth has skipped events for valid reasons like health issues and a February COVID-19 diagnosis. The Queen recovered from COVID, but it looks like she just wasn’t feeling up to appearing at a Commonwealth Day service today because she skipped that.

Commonwealth Day is the annual celebration of the Commonwealth of Nations, held since 1977 on the second Monday in March. It’s not really an official holiday, but because The Queen is the head of the Commonwealth, she pops up for a service at Westminster Abbey and delivers an address on the television. On Friday, The Queen became momentarily relatable to us regular folks when the palace announced that she wouldn’t be showing up for work on Monday. In her place was Prince Charles, who is certainly putting in plenty of backup royal hours prior to becoming King. He was joined at the event by Duchess Camilla. via People magazine:

Queen Elizabeth will miss the annual Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey on Monday, the palace announced Friday. Her son and heir, Prince Charles, will represent her at the ceremony.

“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,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement.

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

That statement does double duty. It tells you who will be showing up to celebrate the Commonwealth, so that no one is standing there, awkwardly asking where The Queen is. But it also helps to silence any conspiracy-based whispers that The Queen skipped C-Day because she’s currently not alive. Because as that statement states, Queen Elizabeth will be meeting for in-person visits later this week. Liz recently transitioned from Zoom-only visits to in-person meetings after she shook COVID.

She wasn’t totally absent from the day’s festivities. People magazine says she released a statement prior to the ceremony, and it just acknowledged that she will always uphold her pledge to represent, and be in service of, the Commonwealth.

People notes that The Queen’s absence likely wasn’t due to illness. They say that she’s been using a cane recently, due to ongoing mobility issues, and she was reportedly concerned about traveling to Westminster Abbey. It was recently announced that Queen Elizabeth will be living full-time at her country home at Windsor Castle, and is done living at her former place, Buckingham Palace. Buckingham Palace is close to Westminster Abbey, but Windsor is about an hour’s drive away, according to People. So Queen Elizabeth may not have wanted to make the trip.

It’s pretty obvious that The Queen is Britain’s answer to Linda Evangelista, except in Queen Elizabeth’s case, she won’t get out of bed for any event that takes place more than 10,000 feet from her front door. So why don’t they just start moving the location of things closer to Windsor Castle? She’s The Queen, I’m pretty sure she can do that. “Queen Elizabeth’s 69th Coronation Ceremony, Location TBD – maybe her couch, who knows.”

Pic: INSTAR