Queen Elizabeth advised by doctors to avoid alcohol ahead of packed schedule

Queen Elizabeth has been advised by royal doctors to avoid drinking alcohol, as the monarch slammed world leaders’ inaction on climate change.

Queen Elizabeth II has been advised by royal doctors to stop drinking ahead of her busy end of year schedule, according to Vanity Fair. Picture: Getty Images

Sources close to Queen Elizabeth II have revealed the monarch, 95, has been advised by royal physicians to forego alcohol in advance of her busy schedule for the remainder of 2021 — and upcoming preparations for her Platinum Jubilee in June 2022.

“The Queen has been told to give up her evening drink which is usually a martini,” a family friend is said to have told Vanity Fair’s Katie Nicholl. “It’s not really a big deal for her, she is not a big drinker but it seems a trifle unfair that at this stage in her life she’s having to give up one of very few pleasures.”

Queen Elizabeth II drinking a glass of wine at Chateau Barossa during a royal visit to South Australia in 2002. Picture: Supplied

“The alcohol has gone, her doctors want to make sure she is as fit and healthy as possible,” a second source was quoted as saying by Vanity Fair.

The monarch is occasionally seen drinking in public and has been photographed at official functions enjoying a glass of Champagne or white wine.

According to palace sources reported by the Daily Mail, like her son Prince Charles, Her Majesty’s alcoholic beverage of choice is a dry martini.

Her late cousin Margaret Rhodes once reported Elizabeth II was even known to drink a glass of champagne before going to bed.

Queen Elizabeth II holding glass of wine with performing arts student Julie Thompson after a rock concert at Buckingham Palace. Picture: Supplied

The Queen Mother, who died in 2002 at the age of 101, enjoyed a glass of Dubonnet and gin before lunch, according to Adrian Tinniswood’s Behind the Throne: A Domestic History of the Royal Household.

The Queen is said to occasionally partake of that cocktail, too.

In that book, Rhodes, the niece, confidante, and lady of the bedchamber to the Queen Mother, revealed this was the royal drinking pattern: Gin and Dubonnet before lunch, wine with the meal, a martini before dinner then a glass of champagne and that it “never varied”.

In November last year, it was reported that the monarch had launched a gin made with plants grown in her Sandringham estate, the third royal label gin produced by the palace.

QUEEN FRUSTRATED BY CLIMATE CHANGE INACTION

It comes as the Queen has taken aim at world leaders who “talk” but “don’t do” enough about climate change, in an apparent jibe at those not attending the upcoming COP26 summit.

The 95-year-old monarch was overheard making the remarks on a microphone as she opened the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff on Thursday.

She told Elin Jones, the parliament’s presiding officer: “Extraordinary isn’t it. I’ve been hearing all about COP … still don’t know who is coming. No idea.

“We only know about people who are not coming … It’s really irritating when they talk, but they don’t do.”

Queen Elizabeth II was overheard expressing her annoyance with world leaders who are all “talk” and don’t “do enough” about climate change. Picture: Getty Images

All eyes are on the two-week UN climate summit in Glasgow, which starts on 31 October, and whether Xi Jinping, leader of the world’s biggest emitter, China, will attend.

It is also unclear if Narendra Modi, prime minister of the world’s third-highest emitter of greenhouse gases, India, will be at the conference either.

The queen’s comments come after public interventions this week from both her eldest son and heir, Prince Charles, and her grandson, Prince William.

Long-time environmentalist Charles told the BBC in an interview broadcast Monday he worried world leaders would “just talk”, rather than implement “action on the ground”.

William, in a separate interview with the broadcaster aired on Thursday, called for more than “clever talk” – and blasted space tourism.

“We need some of the world’s greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live,” he added.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince William share the same views on climate change. Picture: AFP

Welsh politician Jones told the Queen that she had seen William on the television “saying there’s no point going to space, we need to save the Earth”.

The queen smiled and replied: “Yes, I read about it.”

She, Charles, William and other senior royals are all due to attend events at the upcoming summit.

The gathering will try to persuade major developing economies to do more to cut their carbon emissions, and get the rich world to cough up billions more to help poorer countries adapt to climate change.

- With AFP wire copy

Originally published as Queen Elizabeth advised by doctors to avoid alcohol ahead of packed schedule