As the Queen signed the historic Commonwealth Charter on Monday, it seemed she had fully recovered from her recent illness. But the monarch has now cancelled the rest of her outside engagements for the week and will manage her affairs from Buckingham Palace. In a statement released by the Palace, officials said that the sovereign "continues to make a good recovery" and will "continue with the usual rhythm of business" from home. The missive added: "The Queen hopes to resume her programme of official engagements next week".
On Wednesday, the royal was due to hold a Privy Council meeting, and the day before had presented The Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry to John Agard, pictured above. Her Majesty seemed in good spirits as she and the writer shared a joke during their meeting. The Queen's improvised schedule comes as she continues to battle symptoms of gastroenteritis – the stomach virus which saw her spend a night in King Edward VII Hospital in London.
Her doctors are monitoring the situation closely and prefer that she make a full recovery before leaving home. When the royal signed the Charter at Marlborough House on Monday evening she told Kamalesh Sharma, the Commonwealth Secretary General: "They're not sure what's the matter with me." As the monarch gets back to her best, a fly-on-the-wall documentary, titled Our Queen, will air on ITV1 on Sunday. The programme shows the sovereign's daily life during her Diamond Jubilee year. Images released this week showed the Queen chatting to David Cameron in the living room of her Scottish property, Balmoral. The cosy snapshots revealed a fascinating insight the monarch's tastes, showing the portraits, décor and magazines, including HELLO!, which adorned her extravagant property.