The appearance of a walking stick, the first indication that there might be problems with 96-year-old Queen Elizabeth’s health, was very telling. And Buckingham Palace confirmed the queen’s ongoing mobility issues in a statement explaining that she wouldn’t be attending the opening of the British parliament.
“The Queen continues to experience episodic mobility problems, and in consultation with her doctors has reluctantly decided that she will not attend the State Opening of Parliament tomorrow,” a statement from the palace read on May 9, 2022 (via People).
Indeed, during a meeting with ambassadors in February 2022, she made reference to her mobility problems but tried to do it in a joking manner. “Well, as you can see, I can’t move,” she said, according to Reuters.
However, royal expert Robert Lacey told People that, just because the queen is having trouble getting around, it doesn’t mean she’s not at the helm.
“The sense I get from everyone I speak to is that the Queen remains totally in control of her faculties and of everything at the palace,” he said. “The problem is physical mobility — and that is not a constitutional or regency issue. She is in charge.”
Lacey added that sending Prince Charles, Camilla Parker Bowles, and Prince William to the event in her place was to remind the public about the line of succession.
