The Queen will not undertake any long-haul trips before the autumn. Buckingham Palace has confirmed that the Queen's schedule will not include a large number of foreign visits, but will continue to carry out her normal busy schedule closer to home. "The Queen's Speech details trips which are booked in the diary up until autumn on behalf of the Government," said a spokesperson for the royal household. "The Queen will not be making any [other long-haul trips]until then."
Buckingham Palace have said that the monarch's change in the Queen's diary does not follow any health concerns, despite her being briefly hospitalised for gastroenteritis in March.In the upcoming months the Queen, 87, has a total of seven visits planned for the rest of May, including a visit to Cornwall on 17 May and Cambridge on 23 May, both with her husband the Duke of Edinburgh. Following that, Queen Elizabeth will undertake six events in June, including a visit to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders at Howe Barracks in Canterbury and Trooping the Colour on 15 June, to mark her official birthday-The news closely follows a decision by the Palace that the Queen will miss this year's Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting for the first time in 40 years and first in line to the throne,Prince Charles, will take his mother's place at the event. In November Prince Charles will head to Sri Lanka for the meeting, which takes place every two years, to meet with fellow leaders for a discussion of a host of global issues. Coupled with the decision to limit the Queen's overseas visits, the move demonstrates that Prince Charles is stepping up to the responsibilities of the monarch. Charles, who is Britain's longest-waiting heir to the throne, has in the past suggested he is "impatient" to fulfill his destiny. And this is a clear sign that some of the Queen's duties are being transferred to her eldest son.