Get better soon, Ma'am

Anything and everything that happens to Queen Elizabeth II is of interest to millions of people. She was unable to attend the Cenotaph ceremony on Remembrance Sunday today because of a strained back and you can read the headlines across the world. I liked the headline in The Hill in the US: "Queen Elizabeth II skips event after straining back". At the age of 95 her skipping days are over but we know what they mean. The Queen is such an important part of so many people's lives that we all worry at the slightest change in her daily life. A cold, a strained back, feeling a little under the weather, not quite herself - all these phrases provide royal correspondents with endless reasons to speculate but most of them, if not all, do so with respect and affection. How she strained her back we don't know and probably never will know but at her age, with all due respect, Ma'am, even getting out of your favourite chair can give an unexpected and unwelcome twist. But one thing we know from the Queen is that as soon as she can she will be back carrying out all her duties. After all these years as the monarch, it really is an extraordinary story of devotion to duty.