The Truth About Queen Elizabeth's Longest Absence From Official Duties In Her Reign

Rumors abound that Queen Elizabeth could be withdrawing from public life for the remainder of the year, after Buckingham Palace put out a statement confirming Her Majesty would continue isolating at Windsor Castle, alongside her husband of more than 70 years, Prince Philip (via Biography), for the foreseeable future.

The 94-year-old monarch has been quarantining for the past couple months, in order to protect herself from the high-risk coronavirus. As the pandemic continues to rage on, particularly in Europe and more locally in the U.K., the Queen is taking the necessary precautions to ensure she remains safe until a return to public life is entirely risk-free both for her and her constituents. In fact, according to The Times, Queen Elizabeth is to stay on at Windsor Castle "indefinitely" in what will surely be the longest absence from her official duties during the 68 years she has been in power.

The Queen canceled her traditional birthday events last month, while several other royal celebrations including the Trooping of the Colour, an official ceremony involving the British military that has marked the Sovereign's birthday for 260 years (via Royal), have been postponed also. It's not yet known whether any of the fall events, when Queen Elizabeth could likely come out of isolation at the very earliest, will go ahead as planned.

A royal source informed The Times, "The Queen won't do anything which goes against the advice of people in her [age] category, and she's going to take all the appropriate advice. There are discussions what we could do and couldn't do come October." A Buckingham Palace spokesman also noted, "The Queen continues to be busy and will follow appropriate advice on engagements." 

HRH has continued to address her public in video addresses on both TV and social media for the time being.

Queen Elizabeth will reportedly continue with her official duties as much as possible, including meeting with the U.K. Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, predominantly over the telephone, as well as reviewing papers and having discussions with her aides, who are keeping HRH's calendar as clear as possible during the ongoing crisis. Meanwhile, she's been in Windsor Castle alongside Prince Philip since March 19. According to People, the last public engagement at which the Queen was present was 10 days previous, alongside several family members at the Commonwealth Service. Coincidentally, this was also the last public engagement for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle before their so-called Megxit from the royal family. 

The Queen's recent COVID-19 video address compared the current worldwide crisis with the culmination of World War II, noting, "At the start the outlook seemed bleak, the end distant, the outcome uncertain. But we kept faith that the cause was right and this belief, as my father [King George VI] noted in his broadcast, carried us through."