COP26: The Queen, 95, will 'regretfully' not be attending climate change summit in Glasgow

The monarch made the decision as a "sensible precaution" and is following advice to rest, according to Buckingham Palace.

By Alexa Phillips, news reporter

Wednesday 27 October 2021 00:45, UK

Queen Elizabeth II appears on a screen via videolink from Windsor Castle, where she is in residence, during a virtual audience to receive the Ambassador from the Republic of Korea, Gunn Kim, accompanied by HeeJung Lee (not seen), at Buckingham Palace, London. Picture date: Tuesday October 26, 2021.
Image: Earlier on Tuesday the Queen carried out her first official engagements since being told to rest by doctors and spending a night in hospital
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The Queen will not be attending the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow which starts this weekend, Buckingham Palace has announced.

A palace statement said: "Following advice to rest, the Queen has been undertaking light duties at Windsor Castle.

"Her Majesty has regretfully decided that she will no longer travel to Glasgow to attend the Evening Reception of COP26 on Monday, 1 November.

Instagram Picture from theroyalfamily Instagram @theroyalfamily Today The Queen received two Ambassadors in audience via video link from Windsor Castle.
Image: The Queen received two ambassadors via video link from Windsor Castle on Tuesday. Pic: Instagram/theroyalfamily

"Her Majesty is disappointed not to attend the reception but will deliver an address to the assembled delegates via a recorded video message."

A palace source said the decision was taken as a "sensible precaution".

Sky News understands that she remains in good spirits and was expecting a call with Chancellor Rishi Sunak on Tuesday evening as is the norm before the budget.

Her Majesty hopes no one will use her absence as a reason not to go, according to Sky News sources.

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It is understood the Queen very much wants COP26 to be a success and result in meaningful action from the participating nations.

The monarch had been scheduled to attend events in Scotland as part of a flurry of royal COP26 engagements involving the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge between 1 and 5 November.

Other members of the Royal Family will still be in attendance, Sky News understands.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Queen carried out her first official engagements since being told to rest by doctors and spending a night in hospital last week.

Queen Elizabeth II appears on a screen via videolink from Windsor Castle, where she is in residence, during a virtual audience to receive the Ambassador from the Republic of Korea, Gunn Kim, accompanied by HeeJung Lee (left), at Buckingham Palace, London. Picture date: Tuesday October 26, 2021.
Image: Her majesty greeted the South Korean ambassador Gunn Kim, accompanied by Mrs Hee Jung Lee

Her Majesty returned to royal duties with virtual audiences at Windsor Castle.

She wore a yellow dress and her three-strand pearl necklace as she met the South Korean ambassador Gunn Kim and separately, the Swiss ambassador Markus Leitner.

Last week, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said she was admitted for "preliminary investigations" - but returned to Windsor Castle at lunchtime on Thursday.

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PM wishes Queen well after hospital stay

Today's engagement was the first time the 95-year-old monarch has been seen, albeit on a computer screen, since she hosted a busy evening reception for the global investment summit on 19 October.

Buckingham Palace said in a statement that the Queen held two audiences on Tuesday afternoon via videolink from Windsor Castle.

It comes after she "reluctantly" cancelled a trip to Northern Ireland last week after doctors ordered her to rest ahead of preliminary tests in hospital on Wednesday - marking her first overnight stay at a medical facility in eight years.

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Queen pulls out of Northern Ireland trip

She is currently being looked after by the medical household, her expert team of royal physicians.

Sky News' royal correspondent, Rhiannon Mills, said last week that Her Majesty's hospital admission was not related to COVID-19 - and she was back at her desk doing some light work the following day.

Buckingham Palace has not yet confirmed whether the monarch has received her booster coronavirus jab.

Earlier this month, the Queen was seen using a walking stick for the first time at a major engagement during a Westminster Abbey service.

ANALYSIS BY RHIANNON MILLS, ROYAL CORRESPONDENT

It's not a decision that will have been taken lightly.

The Queen’s quiet influence, her decades of diplomatic experience, were going to provide the ultimate welcome for world leaders and delegates arriving for COP26.

But her doctors are clearly being cautious and decided a trip all the way from Windsor to Glasgow is just too much for the 95-year-old.

The constant questions about her health have reminded me of when Prince Philip was a similar age.

At 97 he retired from public life to stop the constant speculation whenever he had to pull out of an event.

But when you're a monarch, and so actively want to continue your constitutional duties, that simply isn't on the cards.

Last week's announcement that she'd spent the night in hospital, and the fact we'd originally been told that she was simply at Windsor, has understandably led to concern about her.

But the palace continue to insist she is in good spirits, their stock phrase for trying to reassure us that she's ok.

Her attendance at COP26 was seen as such a selling point the palace announced weeks ago that the Queen was going to host the opening reception.

As other members of the family will now step up and set that welcoming tone, the Queen will send a message via a video that'll be shown, expected to stress her hopes for meaningful actions, and on that theme I understand she now hopes that her absence won't be an excuse for others not to turn up.

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