Buckingham Palace confirmed on Nov. 5, 2024, that Queen Camilla has withdrawn from several scheduled public events because of increasing health concerns.
A spokesperson wrote, “Her Majesty The Queen is currently unwell with a chest infection, for which her doctors have advised a short period of rest.” She is recovering at home with the aim of feeling well enough to attend the weekend’s Remembrance Day events — including the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall and the commemorative service in Whitehall.
“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.”
Camilla, 77, will reportedly not represent the royal family at the Field of Remembrance opening at Westminster Abbey on Nov. 7 as originally planned. However, no alarm bells are ringing and her illness is understood to be relatively minor. The palace’s statement concluded, “She apologizes to all those who may be inconvenienced or disappointed as a result.”
She returned to the U.K. on Oct. 30 after an international trip with King Charles. The couple toured Australia and Samoa, with a stopover in India on their journey back home. She may have taken ill during the trip.
The last time Camilla had to take a leave of absence due to illness was in Feb. 2023, because of COVID-19 infection. As for Charles, he was diagnosed with cancer in early 2024 and is undergoing treatment in between his travels.
British Prime Minister Kier Starmer took to social media to wish The Queen well, writing, “On behalf of the whole country, I wish Her Majesty The Queen a speedy recovery.”
Camilla has a recorded upcoming project for the British TV channel ITV, Her Majesty The Queen: Behind Closed Doors. It’s a 2024 documentary “following The Queen as she works to raise awareness of domestic and sexual violence.”
Camilla allowed a film crew to visit her Clarence House, which she shares with her husband Charles. They also filmed her at a number of engagements with domestic violence survivors and activists.
Many might not be aware of The Queen’s work in this specific field, but she has been working with domestic violence organizations for over a decade. The list includes Refuge, Women’s Aid, and SafeLives. She lent herself to Behind Closed Doors to help raise awareness.
“One of the most difficult things about domestic abuse to understand, [is] it’s not the bruises and the black eyes, which, unfortunately you see, through violence, this is something that creeps up very slowly and, far too often, it ends up with women being killed,” Camilla states in footage.
“You meet somebody, you think they’re wonderful and attractive and love you…and then bit by bit, they start to undermine you. They take away your friends, they take away your family… and then when you start questioning it…these people become very violent.”
Behind Closed Doors also features interviews with former Prime Minister Theresa May, as well as actors Helen Mirren and Patrick Stewart. Executive producer Naveed Chowdhary-Flatt told Vanity Fair, “We were an all-female crew and we were given remarkable access to the queen but also to the charities the queen works with. They helped us find people who were willing to talk about their experiences anonymously and sometimes for the very first time.”
Behind Closed Doors will air on Nov. 11, 2024, on the ITV channel and ITVX streaming platform in the U.K. at 9pm GMT. No U.S. distribution has been announced yet, so there isn’t a way for us to tune in from overseas. Hopefully, Camilla will feel well enough to be able to bolster the film’s reach upon release, at a time when domestic violence statistics in the U.K. remain at one in every five people.
