Queen Elizabeth to skip Friday events due to discomfort

Buckingham Palace says Queen Elizabeth II will not attend a church service to mark her Platinum Jubilee after experiencing “discomfort” at events on Thursday.

The palace says that with “great reluctance” the 96-year-old monarch has decided to skip Friday’s service at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

The palace says “the queen greatly enjoyed today’s Birthday Parade and Flypast but did experience some discomfort.”

Britain is marking the monarch’s 70 years on the throne with four days of events.

Queen Elizabeth II stepped gingerly onto the Buckingham Palace balcony Thursday, drawing wild cheers from the tens of thousands who came to join her at the start of four days of celebrations of her 70 years on the throne.

Her fans sported Union Jack flags, party hats or plastic tiaras. Some had camped overnight in hope of a glimpse of the 96-year-old queen, whose appearances are becoming rare, and a chance to watch the Trooping the Color — a military parade that has marked each sovereign’s official birthday since 1760.

Elizabeth, who became queen at 25, is Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and the first to reach the milestone of seven decades on the throne.

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Prince Andrew will also miss a service of thanksgiving Friday at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London after testing positive for Covid-19.

The jubilee is being commemorated with a four-day holiday extravaganza and events including a concert at Buckingham Palace on Saturday and a pageant staged by thousands of performers drawn from schools and community groups around the country on Sunday. Thousands of street parties are planned nationwide, repeating a tradition that began with the queen’s coronation in 1953.

• Europe