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Queen Elizabeth Misses New Year’s Day Church Service Due to ‘Heavy Cold’

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Queen Elizabeth missed a prominent church service because of illness for the second time this holiday season, skipping the New Year’s Day service at her Sandringham estate “as she is still recuperating from a heavy cold,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement.

The Queen, who is 90, also missed a Christmas service because of her illness—the first time she had done so since 1988, the New York Times reports.

Though her husband, Prince Philip, had also been unwell, he attended both services.

Queen Elizabeth II is not only the longest-reigning monarch in British history, she is also the longest-reigning monarch currently alive worldwide—a distinction she assumed after the death of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej in October.

 

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