Queen Camilla to return to public duties after being forced to miss Remembrance Day due to a chest infection

The Queen will return to public duties today after her chest infection forced her to miss the commemoration events, a royal source said.

Camilla, 77, was left heartbroken after ill health forced her to pull out of London’s Remembrance Sunday service.

A respiratory infection also forced her 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 world premiere of Gladiator II at the Odeon Luxe in Leicester Square.

However, it is understood that despite the Queen returning to public duties today, she will not attend the star-studded event, a royal insider said. Hello! magazine.

This is a breaking news story. More to follow.

The king laid a wreath at the Cenotaph on Sunday in honor of Britain’s war victims

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 should stay away from public memorial events to ensure she made a full recovery from her chest infection and to protect others from the disease.

Camilla would have loved to personally pay tribute to the country’s fallen soldiers last weekend, but this was refused.

The service at the Cenotaph is an important part of the royal calendar and has deep personal significance for the Queen.

She has official ties to the armed forces and an emotional connection through the military service of her war hero, late father, Major Bruce Shand, who died in June 2006 at the age of 89.

He had joined the 12th Lancers as a second lieutenant in January 1937, before becoming troop leader of ‘A’ Squadron and then lieutenant in 1940.

He served in France during the Second World War as part of the British Expeditionary Force and was awarded the Military Cross in July 1940 after helping cover the withdrawal of troops from Dunkirk.

He was then sent to North Africa as a captain in September as part of the 7th Armored Division, winning his second MC in January 1942.

Camilla is pictured with her father Bruce Shand at Westminster Abbey in London in February 2003, following a service to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation.

She and her husband, King Charles, recently visited Australia and Samoa – seen here together at a farewell ceremony in the Samoan village of Siumu on October 26.

Although she missed out this year, Queen Camilla watched the Remembrance Sunday commemorations with the Princess of Wales last November

Princess Kate is pictured here at this year’s event with Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh

Later that year, in November, he was wounded in Egypt during the Battle of El Alamein and taken prisoner, before later escaping and returning to England at the end of the war 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 was wounded, two of Major Shand’s crew were killed: Sergeant Charles Francis and Commander Edward Plant.

In 2006, Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall, visited Egypt with her husband Charles and laid flowers at the graves of the two men.

Major Shand had written a book in 1990 about his experiences in the Second World War, dedicated to his grandsons and based on letters and a diary he wrote at the time.

These accounts had been sent to England via the Red Cross before being held in the Historical Department of the War Office until 1970.

Camilla read excerpts from the book at an event to mark VE Day in May 2020, including his memories of the 1942 battle in which his two comrades were killed, as well as when he escaped three years later and met American soldiers before returning to Great Britain.

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 he started talking about it and we got him to write a book about it.

Camilla, then the Duchess of Cornwall, laid flowers at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in El Alamein, Egypt, in March 2006, in 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 given 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 weight off his mind to be able to tell people about it.”

And in April this year, the Queen made 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 their colonel-in-chief.

Camilla’s husband Charles and his son William were among those in the capital who took part in the two minutes of silence at 11am on Sunday in honor of those killed in the conflict, as similar events take place nationwide.

And Princess Kate performed her second consecutive day of royal duties for the first time since it was revealed earlier this year that she was being treated for cancer.

She wore a black military-style jacket and wore her traditional three poppies as she joined the nation in two minutes of silence.

The moving tribute commemorates her great-grandmother’s three brothers, all of whom died in the First World War.

The king took part in the cenotaph ceremony on Sunday with 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 headquarters of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in Whitehall

Sophie watched her place her hand on Catherine’s shoulder as they went back inside

The princess appeared emotional as she quietly closed her eyes in remembrance and bowed her head respectfully.

She stood next to the Duchess of Edinburgh as Sophie placed a gentle hand on Catherine’s shoulder as the pair returned inside afterwards.

The Royal British Legion parade involved 10,000 veterans, representing 326 different armed forces and civilian organisations.

And thousands of people queued for the annual event in Whitehall, which included a two-minute silence at 11am, while current Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was joined by eight former Prime Ministers to lay wreaths.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in World War II and the 25th anniversary of the end of the war in Kosovo.

It also coincides with the 75th anniversary of NATO and the 120th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale between Britain and France.