Queen Elizabeth II missed an annual holiday church service on Thursday and also will not attend Sunday's traditional Easter services.
The queen was absent at the annual Maundy Thursday service at St. George’s Chapel on Thursday, where her son, Prince Charles, and his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, stepped in for her. A senior royal source told NBC News that the 95-year-old monarch will also miss Sunday's annual Easter services at George's Chapel at at Windsor Castle, which she usually attends.
On Thursday, Charles carried on the queen's tradition of giving "Maundy money" to a group of men and women for their service to the church and community. This year, 96 men and 96 women each received 96 pence in specially-minted coins in honor of the queen, who turns 96 next week.
While the queen will miss the Easter services on Sunday, she is still working.
"She’s actually come to a new work-life balance, if you like," NBC News royal expert Daisy McAndrew said on TODAY Thursday.
Queen Elizabeth spoke last week about being "tired and exhausted" while enduring a Covid illness in February.
The queen's grandson, Prince Harry, will be in Europe with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, starting on Saturday for the beginning of the Invictus Games in the Netherlands. Harry is the founder of the Paralympics-style competition for wounded, injured, and sick military veterans, which runs from April 16 through April 22 in The Hague.
However, the royal couple, who officially stepped away from their duties as senior members of the royal family in 2020, have not announced any plans to visit the queen. A lawyer for Harry and Meghan said in January that the couple feels Britain is not safe for them to visit without police protection.
Harry has challenged the British government’s decision not to allow him to pay for his police protection when he returns to the U.K. The Duke of Sussex wants to pay for the protection himself rather than having British taxpayers pick up the tab, but said the government has not allowed him to do so.