Back Pain, Queen Elizabeth II Cancels British Heroes Day Ceremony

Queen Elizabeth II. (Wikimedia Commons/Joel Rouse/Ministry of Defence)

JAKARTA - Britain's Queen Elizabeth II missed her Remembrance Day service at Centonaph, London on Sunday due to back pain, prolonging the 95-year-old monarch's absence from public life after she was ordered to rest after being hospitalized last month.

A Buckingham Palace source said the pain was not related to an unspecified illness that caused the Queen to recently visit the hospital, calling it a 'very unfortunate coincidence'.

But Queen Elizabeth II's absence from a meeting she sees as one of the most significant this year will raise concerns about her health.

Originally, the ceremony would be the Queen's first public meeting since she was advised to rest after spending the night in hospital on October 20-21.

"Her Majesty is disappointed that she will miss the service," the palace said in a statement earlier on Sunday, citing Reuters November 15.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday evening he had seen the queen last week and wanted to reassure the nation she was OK.

"I did see the queen for an audience last week, on Wednesday at Windsor, and she was very nice," he told reporters.

During her 69 years on the throne, the Queen had previously missed only six events at the Cenotaph War Memorial in central London. Four while on tour abroad and twice while pregnant.

The ceremony is held on the Sunday closest to November 11, to mark the end of the First World War.

Meanwhile, the royal family joined prominent members of the government, foreign representatives, and the military on Remembrance Sunday to lay wreaths to commemorate those who lost their lives in the conflict.

In recent years, the Queen's son and heir, Prince Charles, has laid a wreath in her name as she watches from the balcony at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Prince Charles, who turned 73 on Sunday, laid the wreath again this year, while his wife Camilla, with Kate, Duchess of Cambridge and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, watched from the balcony.

Thousands of veterans then marched past the Cenotaph, led by the Coldstream Guards group.

Queen Elizabeth II is the oldest and longest-serving monarch in the world. Since being advised to rest, she has missed events such as the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow and a festival to remember the war-dead nations on Saturday night.

Palace sources said the Queen hoped to continue as planned with her light duty schedule this week. The queen was recently photographed meeting top dignitaries online.

Attending a Cenotaph event will require the Queen to travel by car from her residence at Windsor Castle, west of London, and stand for a period of time.