Queen Elizabeth can no longer attend UK's Remembrance Sunday service due to nagging  low back pain

Doctors had advised the monarch to rest until mid-November 

By Edward Era Barbacena

London - Remembrance Sunday is held in the United Kingdom as a day to commemorate the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts. It is held at 11am on the second Sunday in November.

The Queen will no longer attend the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph in London as she has sprained her back.

Buckingham Palace said the monarch, 95, was "disappointed" to miss the event.

The palace previously said it was the Queen's "firm intention" to attend the service, after taking time away from her duties for health reasons.

She made the decision to miss the event "with great regret" this morning, a statement said.

As in previous years, a wreath will be laid on Her Majesty's behalf by the Prince of Wales.

The Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Earl and Countess of Wessex and The Princess Royal will also still attend as planned.

The Queen's back sprain is unrelated to her doctor's recent advice to rest, news agency PA Media reported.

Doctors had advised the monarch to rest until mid-November after she spent a night in hospital on 20 October for checks - her first overnight hospital stay in eight years.

However, she did undertake some light duties during that time, including meeting ambassadors via video link from Windsor Castle.

She also recorded a video message for the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, after pulling out of attending the event in person.

And she missed the Festival of Remembrance at London's Royal Albert Hall on Saturday, which was attended by Prince Charles, Camilla, Prince William and Catherine.

The Remembrance Sunday service would have been her first duty in public after her hospital stay last month.

Buckingham Palace said in a statement: "The Queen, having sprained her back, has decided this morning with great regret that she will not be able to attend today's Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph.

"Her Majesty is disappointed that she will miss the service."

The monarch, who lived through World War Two as a teenager, is head of the armed forces.

She has only missed six other Cenotaph ceremonies during her reign - on four occasions when she was on overseas visits and in 1959 and 1963, when she was pregnant with her two youngest children.

The Queen had maintained a typically busy schedule in October before being admitted to hospital, but was recently seen using a walking stick at a Westminster Abbey service, the first time she has done so at a major event.

On Tuesday, she returned to Windsor Castle following a long-planned weekend away at her Sandringham home in Norfolk.

Last week, she was spotted driving her car near Windsor Castle, in an area where she is known to take her Corgi dogs out for walks.

Source: BBC