Her Majesty is suffering from a bout of gastroenteritis, which is essentially a stomach infection.
According to WebMD, Gastroenteritis is:
Gastroenteritis is a condition that causes irritation and inflammation of the stomachand intestines (the gastrointestinal tract). An infection may be caused by bacteria or parasites in spoiled food or unclean water. Some foods may irritate your stomach and cause gastroenteritis. Lactose intolerance to dairy products is one example.
The last time Her Majesty was hospitalized was 10 years ago, for a scheduled knee surgery. Since then, The Queen has been in good health, and has rarely cancelled or postponed any engagements. She did, however, cancel an engagement earlier this year after coming down with a cold. Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, was hospitalized twice last year, once for a bladder infection and once for heart surgery.
In my opinion, Her Majesty cancelling engagements is a sign that she's slowing down a bit in her old age (she'll be 87 in April!), and I think that this will have a huge impact on how the younger royals begin to handle their royal duties.
I'm also interested to see if Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie will be allowed to begin undertaking royal engagements to fill in any gaps. It's been said that Prince Charles is interested in "slimming down" the monarchy to only a few key members (The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince Harry being the "big seven"), but as long as Princes William and Harry are full-time military men, and Kate is expecting, it seems that more hands may be needed on deck.
What do you think?
It is my opinion that since Prince Phillip became ill last year the path toward the end of William's military career was set in motion. I believe that he and Kate will step up their engagements over the course of this year, even though she is pregnant. I do not, however, think that Bea and Eugenie will see many if any engagements, even with a potential "shortage." There are others, including Camilla, who could easily undertake additional engagements.
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