The Queen will be joined by another Royal Family member on future public visits in case she has to cancel at short notice due to her health.
Buckingham Palace aides are now scrambling to cut down the monarch’s schedule after being accused of misleading the public over her condition.
This week the Queen, 95, was forced to cancel a trip to Northern Ireland at the last minute following advice from doctors.
Her appearance at the Cop26 climate summit on November 1 is now looking uncertain as she awaits results of medical tests.
This week a source close to the palace said she was ‘feeling fine but just needs to rest’ and confirmed the issue was not Covid related.
But palace staff were criticised for failing to mention that the head of state stayed at King Edward VII’s Hospital in London overnight on Wednesday for tests.
Initially the media was told she was resting at Windsor Castle, but aides eventually mentioned the hospital stay on Thursday night after the news leaked out.
It was the Queen’s first overnight stay at a hospital in eight years – having been treated at the same private clinic in 2013 for gastroenteritis.
The latest statement from her spokesman, released on Thursday night, said: ‘Following medical advice to rest for a few days, The Queen attended hospital on Wednesday afternoon for some preliminary investigations, returning to Windsor Castle at lunchtime today, and remains in good spirits.’
Now the palace press office is being urged to be more transparent about the head of state’s health in the future as a matter of public interest.
Officials are understood to be drawing up a ‘core’ list of key events for the Queen to prioritise over the next 12 months.
This will include her Platinum Jubilee in June 2022, marking 70 years on the throne.
It comes amid reports that one of the Queen’s children or grandchildren will join her for public visits so they can step in for her if she has to cancel.
Another member of the Royal Family will be on hand to help if she needs company or assistance, according to the Sunday Telegraph.
The lifting of Covid restrictions has led to a logjam of events on the Queen’s busy schedule.
Since leaving Balmoral Castle on October 1, she held 13 audiences or meetings, attended seven major events and travelled nearly 900 miles, according to Buckingham Palace’s Court Circular.
On top of this, she also has many private meetings and reads Government papers every day.
Sally Bedell Smith, who has written a biography of the Queen, says the palace ‘have to find some kind of balance’.
She told the Mail on Sunday: ‘I hope they have learnt from the pretty punishing pace she kept over the course of a month that that is maybe just too much.’
Royal biographer Ingrid Seward added: ‘She doesn’t want to end up constantly in hospital because she is exhausted,’ said royal biographer Ingrid Seward.
‘She will have to do all the big events. It’s the smaller events that she can hand over.’
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