It continues to be pretty notable how all of the conversation about Queen Elizabeth’s health and mobility just went completely quiet once the Jubbly was over and… the Duke and Duchess of Sussex visited. It’s almost as if some legitimate health drama was exaggerated by the British papers as a way to force Harry and Meghan to come back for a visit. Anyway, the Queen has been enjoying her post-Jubbly summer holiday. She went to Scotland for Holyrood Week, then had a short vacation at Sandringham, then she was in Windsor Castle for the British heat wave. She finally traveled to Balmoral around July 23rd-ish, although she’s reportedly staying at a smaller cottage on the Balmoral estate. There’s the big Balmoral house, then there are smaller cottages, like Craigowan Lodge, which has apparently been outfitted with an elevator and some other things to help the Queen get around. I bring this up because there’s apparently drama about the Queen not wanting to do a big public welcoming ceremony?

There was renewed speculation over Queen Elizabeth’s health Monday after it was revealed that a traditional public welcoming ceremony, usually held outside Balmoral Castle to mark the start of the queen’s summer holidays in Scotland, will this year take place behind closed doors. The event, which usually sees the queen inspect a guard of honor at the gates of Balmoral Castle, will now take place “privately within the grounds of Balmoral” a royal source told The Daily Beast.

Last year, the event involved the queen inspecting a guard of honour, and meeting a tiny Shetland pony which is the official mascot of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The ceremony is typically seen as marking the beginning of her summer holidays in Scotland, where she usually stays until October. This year, the event will be held privately instead.

The designation of the event as private means that the queen, who has been suffering from “episodic mobility problems” according to her aides, will not be exposed to the scrutiny of TV cameras, photographers, media or the public.

There are, as ever, two ways of looking at this. One is to say that as the queen progresses through her 97th year, she should be saluted for her devotion to duty and the extraordinary schedule of events and activities, even in slightly modified form, that she does maintain. The contrary view is that appearing in public is one of the most important and foundational responsibilities of her job. It is the queen herself, after all, who used to quip, “I have to be seen to be believed.” This line of thinking concludes that if she cannot perform basic duties, such as attending church services and inspecting the troops, there is an argument that a regency, or even a full abdication, ushering in the reign of King Charles, needs to be established post-haste.

[From The Daily Beast]

Okay, but she’s already been in Balmoral for more than two weeks? Why are they doing the welcoming ceremony now? I don’t know. I actually have a theory though and it has nothing to do with the Queen’s health or mobility: she didn’t want the public to view her grudge match with Cruachan IV, the Shetland pony. That pony is the Queen’s nemesis. That pony is a Scottish separatist who sh-ts in the Queen’s direction and tries to eat the Queen’s hat and flowers.

But yeah, the Queen is doing less and less. She should retire, but I know she won’t. Apparently, she will break away from her Scottish summer to trot back to London when there’s a new prime minister. Whenever that happens.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.