Queen Elizabeth has been hospitalized for a stomach illness, British newspapers reported March 3, 2013. According to reports, the 86-year-old Queen canceled an engagement, a rare occurrence, after she started to exhibit signs of gastoenteritis, an inflammation of the stomach lining that causes nausea, vomiting and dehydration.
According to CNN, Queen Elizabeth is expected to be in hospital for two days as a “precaution.” She originally fell ill on St. David's Day, March 1, which caused her to cancel a scheduled trip to Wales. The disease, caused by norovirus, is usually passed person to person, but can also be contracted from food.
The Daily Mail reported that this was the Queen's first visit to hospital in a decade; she had knee surgery in 2003. She is at the King Edward VII Hospital, having arrived by car and not ambulance, and is reportedly “in good spirits,” according to a Buckingham Palace representative.
The Queen is not expected to have visitors from elsewhere in the Royal Family, though her week's engagements are to be canceled or postponed--including her upcoming visit to the Vatican.
Source: CNN; Daily Mail
Get British Royal Family news by subscribing to this column or using the RSS feed. Linda Gentile is the British Royal Family Examiner and you can also follow on Twitter and Facebook.
Comments