Queen Camilla Pulls Out of Outing Due to Chest Infection as Royal Family Member Steps in for Rare Appearance

Mar. 15, 2025

Queen Camilla (left) and the Duchess of Gloucester (right).Photo:Chris Jackson/Getty; James Manning/PA Images via Getty

Chris Jackson/Getty; James Manning/PA Images via Getty

AsQueen Camillarecovers from a chest infection, a rarely-seen royal family member is standing in for her at an official engagement.

On Thursday, Nov. 7,Birgitte, the Duchess of Gloucesterrepresented the Queen, who isresting privately amid a chest infection, at the annual Field of Remembrance event at Westminster Abbey in London. Birgitte, 78, stood in for Camilla after Buckingham Palace announced on Tuesday, Nov. 5 that she was unwell with a chest infection and would cancel her engagements for the week.

The Duchess of Gloucester is a full-time working royal and married toPrince Richard, the Duke of Gloucester, who is a first cousin of the lateQueen Elizabeth. It emerged on Thursday that she would go to the event instead of the Queen, who is patron of the charity The Poppy Factory, which organizes the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey.

The Duchess of Gloucester during a visit to the Field of Remembrance in London.James Manning/PA Images via Getty

James Manning/PA Images via Getty

It’s a rare occurrence for Birgitte to fill in for Camilla at an official royal engagement.

“Her Majesty The Queen is currently unwell with a chest infection, for which her doctors have advised a short period of rest,” Buckingham Palace said in their Nov. 5 statement. “With great regret, Her Majesty has therefore had to withdraw from her engagements for this week, but she very much hopes to be recovered in time to attend this weekend’s Remembrance events as normal. She apologizes to all those who may be inconvenienced or disappointed as a result.”

The palace added that though the Queen regretted her last-minute change in plans, she hoped to attend the royal family’s other Remembrance events this weekend.

Like Queen Camilla,Kate Middletonis thought to hope to appear at the Cenotaph ceremony on Remembrance Sunday as well. The Princess of Wales, 42, announced on Sept. 9 that she completedchemotherapy treatmentfor cancer, and a Remembrance Sunday appearance would be her first major royal event since.

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King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend a service at St. Thomas’s Anglican Church on October 20, 2024 in Sydney, Australia.Ian Vogler - Pool/Getty

Ian Vogler - Pool/Getty

The silence concluded with the Kohima Epitaph — “When you go home tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow we gave our today” — and Birgitte met senior representatives from The Poppy Factory and reviewed the 308 plots in the Field of Remembrance this year.

The Poppy Factory supports members of the Armed Forces and their families as they seek employment, and Queen Camilla has backed the organization as patron since 2013. The Field of Remembrance tradition is in its 96th year, where veterans and members of the public are invited to plant a poppy in honor of those who died in the Armed Forces.

The Poppy Factory itself also has longtime links to the British royals. The charity’s support through employment for veterans with health conditions started at its original factory, which has been producing Remembrance wreaths for the royals and the Royal British Legion, a charity supporting members of the British military, veterans and their families in several sectors, since 1922.

Queen Camilla andKing Charlesrecently returned from a nine-day tour of Australia and Samoa, their first official trip to a Commonwealth realm of his royal reign.

source: people.com