Queen Elizabeth hospitalised!

LONDON (AFP) – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, suffering from gastroenteritis, was admitted to hospital on Sunday, a Buckingham Palace spokesman told AFP.

All the 86-year-old’s engagements for this week, including a visit to Rome, have been called off, the spokesman added.

“The Queen is being assessed at King Edward VII’s Hospital in London after experiencing symptoms of gastroenteritis. As a precaution, all official engagements this week will be either postponed or cancelled,” he said.

Britain’s head of state is known for her robust health and devotion to duty, and rarely misses engagements.

The sovereign first felt unwell on Friday and cancelled a visit Saturday to a military celebration in the city of Swansea to mark St. David’s Day, the national day of Wales.

Instead of that engagement, she had been spending the weekend resting at Windsor Castle, west of London.

That she was taken to the royals’ regular hospital in central London suggests that her condition was not serious enough to warrant going to a hospital close to Windsor.

Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip were due to visit Rome on Wednesday and Thursday, when they were to meet Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.

The monarch celebrated her diamond jubilee in 2012, marking her 60 years on the throne. This year further ceremonies will be held to mark the six decades since her coronation in 1953.





-- Vanguard

Queen Elizabeth II Discharged From Hospital

Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain smiled as she left a London hospital on Monday after she had been admitted for gastroenteritis.

It was the first time in 10 years that the 86-year-old monarch had been admitted to hospital. The last time was in 2003 after which the old monarch has been shrugging off whatever illness beckons. She was even forced to call off a visit to Rome this week, which would have been her first overseas trip since October 2011. She’s been known to rarely miss engagements.

The monarch, wearing a scarlet coat with a brooch and carrying a black handbag on her left arm, shook hands with a uniformed member of staff on the steps of King Edward VII’s Hospital in central London as she left.

The queen left the hospital in a luxury Bentley, accompanied by a protection officer and police motorcycle outriders.

Illustrating her determined spirit, the queen, who first felt unwell on Friday, reportedly presented a long-service medal to a staff member before being driven to hospital on Sunday.

In a widespread support for the Queen on Monday, The Sun on its part said that while hundreds of thousands of Britons take sneaky days off sick with stomach complaints, Queen Elizabeth was “the one person who you can be sure” doesn’t.

“Even at 86, Her Majesty rarely lets up on her still-busy schedule.

“Such is her total devotion to duty that she doesn’t often let a little thing like ill health get in the way of her work.”



-- Informationnigeria