U.K. palace says queen spent night in hospital

LONDON — Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II spent a night in a hospital for checks this week after canceling an official trip to Northern Ireland on medical advice, Buckingham Palace said Thursday.

The palace said the 95-year-old British monarch went to the private King Edward VII’s Hospital in London on Wednesday for “preliminary investigations.” It said she returned to her Windsor Castle home at lunchtime on Thursday, “and remains in good spirits.”

On Wednesday, the queen canceled a scheduled trip to mark 100 years since the creation of Northern Ireland, and the palace said she had “reluctantly” accepted medical advice to rest for a few days. It did not elaborate, but the decision was understood not to be related to COVID-19. The queen has been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

The palace confirmed the queen’s hospital stay after The Sun newspaper reported the news.

The queen is now back at Windsor Castle, west of London, where she has spent much of her time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

The decision came just days after Elizabeth was seen using a walking stick at a major public event when attending a Westminster Abbey service marking the centenary of the Royal British Legion, an armed forces charity.