The Queen will return to public duties today after her chest infection forced her to miss out on Remembrance events, a royal source said.
Camilla, 77, was left heartbroken after being forced to pull out of the Remembrance Sunday memorial service in London due to ill health.
A chest infection meant she also had to miss an Olympic and Paralympic reception at Buckingham Palace earlier this week, as well as the opening of the Field of Remembrance at nearby Westminster Abbey.
On Wednesday, King Charles will attend the global premier of Gladiator II at the Odeon Luxe in Leicester Square.
However, it’s understood that despite the Queen returning to public duties today, she will not be attending the star-studded event, a royal insider told Hello! magazine.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.
Queen Camilla, pictured attending last year’s National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph in central London, has been forced to miss this year’s event due to a chest infection
The King laid a wreath at the Cenotaph on Sunday to honour Britain’s war dead
King Charles and Queen Camilla are pictured together
Camilla’s husband King Charles led the nation in remembering Britain’s war dead, placing a wreath at the Cenotaph as crowds including military veterans looked on.
Buckingham Palace said the Queen had to stay away from public Remembrance events to ensure she made a full recovery from her chest infection and to protect others from the illness.
Camilla is said to have dearly wanted to pay tribute in person to the nation’s fallen servicemen and women last weekend – only to be denied.
The service at the Cenotaph is an important fixture in the royal calendar and holds deep personal meaning for the Queen.
She has official connections to the armed forces, as well as an emotional closeness due to the military service of her war hero late father Major Bruce Shand, who died aged 89 in June 2006.
He had joined the 12th Lancers as a second lieutenant in January 1937, before becoming a troop leader of ‘A’ Squadron and then a lieutenant in 1940.
He served during the Second World War in France as part of the British Expeditionary Force and was awarded the Military Cross in July 1940 after helping cover the withdrawal of forces from Dunkirk.
He was then sent to North Africa as part of the 7th Armoured Division in September, as a captain, and won his second MC in January 1942.
Camilla is pictured with her father Bruce Shand at Westminster Abbey in London in February 2003 after a service to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation
She and her husband King Charles recently paid a visit to Australia and Samoa – they are seen here together at a farewell ceremony in the Samoan village of Siumu on October 26
Though missing out this year, Queen Camilla watched last November’s Remembrance Sunday commemorations alongside the Princess of Wales
Princess Kate is pictured here during this year’s event alongside Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh
Later that year, in November, he was wounded in Egypt during the Battle of El Alamein and taken captive as a prisoner of war, before later escaping then returning to England at the war’s end in 1945.
He retired from the armed forces in April 1947 due to disability and was given the honorary rank of major.
During the battle in which he had been wounded, two of Major Shand’s crewmen were killed – Sgt Charles Francis and Cpl Edward Plant.
In 2006, Camilla – then the Duchess of Cornwall – visited Egypt alongside her husband Charles and laid flowers at the two men’s graves.
Major Shand had written a book in 1990 about his Second War War experiences, dedicated to his grandsons and based on letters and a diary he penned at the time.
These accounts had been sent to England via the Red Cross before being kept in the Historical Section of the War Office until 1970.
Camilla read extracts from the book at an event marking VE Day in May 2020, including his memories of the 1942 battle in which his two comrades died and also of when he escaped capture three years later and met US soldiers before returning to the UK.
She said: ‘My father was a soldier in the war and we could never get him to talk about it.
‘But when the grandchildren came along, he started talking about it and we got him to write a small book about it.
Camilla, then the Duchess of Cornwall, laid flowers in March 2006 at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in El Alamein, Egypt, paying tribute to two of her father’s late comrades
Camilla’s father Bruce Shand was twice awarded the Military Cross for his wartime efforts
Bruce Shand was awarded the honorary title of major after retiring from the Army in 1947
Camilla, pictured with her father Bruce Shand, has spoken about the importance of the military to her following his services in the armed forces
‘I think it was a huge load off his mind to be able to tell people about it.’
And in April this year, the Queen paid a trip to meet members of her father’s old Lancers regiment at their base in Catterick, North Yorkshire – her first visit there since being appointed as their Colonel-in-Chief.
Camilla’s husband Charles and his son William were among those in the capital taking part in Sunday’s two-minute silence at 11am to honour those who died in conflict, with similar events taking place nationwide.
And Princess Kate carried out her second consecutive day of royal duties for the first time since it was revealed earlier this year she was being treated for cancer.
Wearing a black, military-style jacket, she could be seen wearing her traditional three poppies as she joined the nation in two minutes of silence.
The touching tribute remembers her great-grandmother’s three brothers, who all lost their lives in the First World War.
The King took part in Sunday’s Cenotaph ceremony alongside his sister Princess Anne
Thousands of veterans took part in the march past the Cenotaph in central London
The Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Edinburgh watched from a balcony at the nearby Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office HQ on Whitehall
Sophie was seen putting her hand on Catherine’s shoulder as they went back inside
The Princess appeared emotional as she quietly closed her eyes in remembrance, bowing her head in respect.
She was standing alongside the Duchess of Edinburgh, with Sophie seen to place a tender hand on Catherine’s shoulder as the pair returned indoors afterwards.
The Royal British Legion’s parade involved 10,000 veterans, representing 326 different armed forces and civilian organisations.
And thousands of people lined Whitehall for the annual event, including a two-minute silence at 11am, while current Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was joined by eight former PMs to lay wreaths.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in the Second World War and the 25th anniversary of the end of the war in Kosovo.
It also comes alongside the 75th anniversary of Nato and the 120th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale between the UK and France.
