BAfter her doctors raised concerns about her health, Queen Elizabeth II was placed under medical supervision on her Balmoral estate in Scotland.
Although the world’s longest-reigning monarch, aged 96, has scaled back her royal duties in recent years—including most recently her decision to appoint the country’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss from Balmoral instead of Buckingham Palace, where such appointments are traditionally done—the announcement on the status of her health is nonetheless a significant development. Buckingham Palace doesn’t issue such statements lightly, and the fact that senior members of the royal family, including the Queen’s immediate successors Prince Charles and Prince William, are gathering at Balmoral to be with the monarch suggests that the prognosis is more serious than previously known.
It comes at an already crucial political moment for Britain. Truss was the 56th Prime Minister of Britain and Truss arrived just days earlier to Downing Street. This was the last public image of the Queen was released following her formal swearing in of Truss to the premiership on Tuesday, the 15th such appointment to take place during the Queen’s 70-year reign. Winston Churchill was the first to be appointed as Prime Minister in 1952. “The whole country will be deeply concerned by the news from Buckingham Palace this lunchtime,” Truss said in a statementFollow her on Twitter. British leaders around the world also sent similar outpourings to support Queen Victoria. the political spectrum.
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