Fears about Queen’s health

Press, 22 November 1980, Page 6

Fears about Queen’s health

By

KEN COATES

5 in London

As the Queen, on her thir- ; tv-third wedding anniversa- i ry, officiated at the State s j opening of Parliament t yesterday, questions were 1 (being asked about the heavy 1 load of official duties she is ’ taking on. 1 As well as opening Parlia- ( ment, she gave audiences to 1 I the new Tunisian Ambassai dor, and the British Am- < :bassador to Paraguay. 1 j The “Daily Mirror” re-b 'ports that fears are beingji (expressed about the possible JI (effect on the Queen’s health.;! It says that senior doctors.’ j who greeted her during a re-*t 1 cent visit to a London hospi-11 i tai expressed concern about jn I her obvious fatigue. . '! c ' One doctor is: reported to ; n have said that she was ex-1

tremely listless and looked’ “worn out”. She did not; appear to take much interest! in what she was being shown The Queen, who is 54, visited the hospital after an ex-; hausting trip to Morocco,! where the eccentricities of; King Hassan made her ill at! ease. She had already visited < Italy, Tunisia, and Algeria. ! In the next few days she commemorated Remem-i ibrance Week-end, held in-! vestitures, attended an art;’ !exhibition and the Church of; ‘England synod, and travelled;: to Lincolnshire. A crowded programme upp to Christmas includes visits p to Belgium, talks with Com-if mon Market and NA.T.0.1 officials, and trips to Ger-|J many and Wales. ■. At home the Queen sees a|i

’stream of Ministers and (spends several hours a day {signing official papers and reading the contents of diplomatic and official “boxes.” An official at Buckingham Palace said nobody could be lon top form all the time, (and nobody could be expected to smile 24 hours a day. There is general agreement that the Queen will ; welcome the Christmas ’break with her family atj (Windsor and Sandringham, j i The Queen said in her! Speech from the Throne that: she was also looking for-j iward to going to Norway.! (Australia, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka. With the Duke of. Edinburgh, she will visit! New Zealand in October; after the Commonwealth 1

I Heads of Government meet’ ’ ing in Melbourne. 1 Fewer than half the peers • were able to get into the House of Lords for the cerei mony, Bewigged law lords ! sat squeezed up on the , Woolsack in front of .jhe • Throne, knee to knee with : some of the bishops sitting opposite. There was a tight squeeze, too, for the Diplomatic Corps, sitting In benches .} normally occupied by tlie j bishops and in the gallery (above the throne. The New 1 Zealand High Commissioner (Air L. W. Gandar), in white |t:e and tails, was among the diplomats given places above the Throne. Sitting directly below him ■ were the Duke and Duchess (of Kent just back from 1 their New Zealand tour.