Queen Elizabeth cancels engagement, but bounces back

Queen Elizabeth canceled an engagement at Westminster Abbey today, then attended a London reception to celebrate Commonwealth Day.

|
Philip Toscano/PA/AP
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, Head of the Commonwealth, signs the Commonwealth Charter at a reception at Marlborough House, London, on March 11, after canceling an earlier engagement. The Charter is an historic document which brings together, for the first time in the associations 64-year history, key declarations on Commonwealth principles.

Queen Elizabeth II attended a London reception to celebrate Commonwealth Day on Monday, her first public appearance since she was briefly hospitalized for a stomach illness.

The monarch appeared in good spirits, although earlier in the day she had to cancel her engagement at Westminster Abbey. Buckingham Palace officials said the 86-year-old queen was still getting over a bout of gastroenteritis that led to her first hospitalization in a decade last week.

Wearing a mint and silver ensemble, Elizabeth made a brief speech at the ceremony held at Marlborough House in central London. After that she signed a new charter setting out the Commonwealth's values and commitment to equal rights.

The document, agreed upon by the group's 54 member states, commits them to upholding principles, including democracy, rule of law and gender equality.

Earlier Monday, Prince Philip, the queen's 91-year-old husband, attended the service at the abbey, where he was joined by 2,000 guests, including Commonwealth ambassadors.

A prerecorded annual address by the queen, who heads the association of countries, was played in the abbey.

The queen had to cancel several engagements, including a visit to Rome, last week because of her stomach bug. The one-day hospitalization raised concerns about the general health of the queen, who has rarely taken time off her duties due to illness.

But the palace says she remains in robust health.

"The queen hopes to undertake some of her official engagements planned for the rest of the week," the palace said.

Elizabeth carried out more than 400 official engagements in 2012 — ranging from weekly meetings with the prime minister to ceremonial gatherings such as the reception on Monday.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Queen Elizabeth cancels engagement, but bounces back
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0311/Queen-Elizabeth-cancels-engagement-but-bounces-back
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe