The Queen has been hospitalised for the first time in 10 years after symptoms of gastroenteritis forced her to cancel a visit to Rome this week.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said the 86-year-old monarch is “in good health and good spirits” and has been taken to hospital as a precautionary measure.
“She was not taken into hospital immediately after feeling the symptoms. This is simply to enable doctors to better assess her,” said the spokesperson.
The palace revealed details of the Queen’s sickness over the weekend, when she cancelled an engagement in Swansea to rest at Windsor Castle instead.
As the illness continued, the decision was made to admit her to King Edward VII hospital – the same hospital where Catherine, Duchess of Cambridgewas hospitalised for her hyperemesis gravidarum during the early stages of her pregnancy.
While in hospital, doctors are likely to monitor her fluid levels to prevent dehydration. The Queen, who turns 87 next month, is seldom ill and the last time she was taken to hospital was in 2003 for surgery to remove torn cartilage in her right knee and lesions from her face.
“Very much like her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, she is proud of her robust health and does not give in to these things lightly,” said a palace source.
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