The royal we Queen's rest reveals a roadmap to succession

With the 95-year-old monarch taking a break on doctor’s orders, a potentially fraught transition of duties has begun

- Caroline Davies

As Prince Charles stepped up to welcome world leaders to the Cop26 climate summit , the Queen appeared in a recorded video from Windsor to address delegates in Glasgow. It could well have been a defining moment.

With the Queen’s advanced years, there has been a gradual devolving of some of the more arduous public engagements to younger members of the royal family. The Duke of Edinburgh’s death in April at 99 and the Queen’s recent cancellation of public engagements to rest on medical advice after undisclosed tests, which necessitated an overnight hospital stay , has focused attention on the inevitable transition – and what it entails.

Buckingham Palace announced last Friday that she had been advised by doctors to rest for at least the next two weeks and refrain from official visits. She will be restricted to light duties , including some virtual audiences.

“Obviously, as the Queen gets older, more duties will be devolved upon other members of the royal family,” said Prof Vernon Bogdanor, an author and constitutional expert . “The other royals can do anything except the constitutional functions, such as audiences with the prime minister and signing acts of parliament.”