Queen Elizabeth Is Skipping Out On Even More In-Person Engagements

Queen Elizabeth II doesn't get to take weekends. Since becoming queen at age 25, she has worked non-stop with the occasional break for Christmas at Sandringham. Although, if you know anything about her family, that doesn't exactly sound like a relaxing vacation.

In the past few years alone, Elizabeth has had to step up and present a tough facade to her country and her quickly deteriorating family. First, in 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle abruptly announced they would be leaving the royal family amid allegations of racism, with plans to start a new life in America. Then there was the Prince Andrew (her rumored favorite) scandal. Elizabeth ultimately made the difficult decision to publicly distance herself from Andrew and revoke most of his titles.

As if that weren't enough to deal with, the nonagenarian's health has been rapidly deteriorating since the onset of the pandemic. Elizabeth caught COVID-19 in 2022, and although she recovered, given her advanced age, she has been forced to take a massive step back from public life. Though palace aids have assured the public she's doing just fine, recent reports that she won't be attending some important engagements have left people worried.

After remaining behind the scenes for much of the year, Queen Elizabeth II has made the shocking decision to skip this year's Garden Parties. "Buckingham Palace says she'll be represented by other members of the Family," royal journalist Chris Ship tweeted. "Aides point to long periods of standing which the Queen can no longer do." For those who have never been invited to the Royal Garden Parties (which haven't' happened since 2019), the queen invites citizens who have served the commonwealth in some notable way to mingle with her and the rest of the royals for a day, per the BBC.

This announcement threw Twitter's royally obsessed into a tizzy. Some wondered if Elizabeth would even be able to attend her platinum jubilee this summer. Many also questioned why the queen doesn't simply use a wheelchair if she's unable to stand. "It could be a really lovely one, padded for comfort. She does t have to stand up to still be the Queen," one confused Tweeter wrote. Still, others feel that, if Elizabeth has become too unwell to stand for long periods, she should pass the throne along to Charles.

The Q=queen has already made moves to promote Charles, who'll be taking over the throne one day soon. In February, she made the surprising announcement that Camilla could call herself Queen Consort upon Charles' ascension to the throne, per People — a move that surprised many, given their notoriously icy relationship.