Queen Elizabeth's Decision To Miss An Important Event Has Royal Fans Scratching Their Heads
There are very strict rules for the royal family. From how they can dress to the line of succession, rules are broken down extremely specifically. The same is said for the royal family's job duties. They all have a certain numbers of events to attend to and appearances to make throughout the year. So, when one of those people step down and another steps in, people notice — especially when it's Queen Elizabeth II herself. Needless to say, people are concerned over the news that Queen Elizabeth won't be present at the Commonwealth Day Service this year (via Royal Central).
Here's a quick breakdown about the holiday. Commonwealth Day is an international holiday celebrated throughout "the Commonwealth in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Americas, the Pacific and Europe." Seeing as the Queen is head of the Commonwealth, it's a big event for her. However, this year, it will be Prince Charles who leads the service.
What makes this even more odd is that Buckingham Palace didn't give a reason for her not being there. "After discussing 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," the statement read (via Reuters). "The Queen will continue with other planned engagements, including in person audiences, in the week ahead."
The last time the Queen missed the Commonwealth Day Service was in 2013
There are few reasons why the world is concerned to hear that Queen Elizabeth II won't be at the Commonwealth Day Service. The first is that it is an extremely important event for the royal family. As mentioned above, Queen Elizabeth is the head of the Commonwealth and normally gives a reading at the service. According Royal Central, that job will now go to Prince Charles, who is next in the line and will someday be doing it anyway.
The last time that Queen Elizabeth was not present at the Commonwealth Day Service, with the exception of last year's COVID cancellation, was in 2013 when she was sick (via The Guardian). While the Palace did not name illness as the reason that the Queen will not attend this year, she did just recently test positive for COVID-19 in February. She was put on "light duties" during her recovery. The Commonwealth Day Service was set to be her first in-person engagement since 2021 (via Royal Central).