The Queen is too ill to go to annual Christmas Day church service at Sandringham

Recovering: The Queen, seen here at last year's service, has been fighting a heavy cold

Chris Radburn/PA Wire

Jason Collie25 December 2016

The Queen will not be attending the Christmas Day service because she is still recovering from her heavy cold.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman has confirmed Her Majesty is too unwell to go to St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham later this morning for the annual service.

In a statement, the Palace said: "Her Majesty The Queen will not attend Church at Sandringham this morning.

"The Queen continues to recover from a heavy cold and will stay indoors to assist with her recovery.

"Her Majesty will participate in the Royal Family Christmas celebrations during the day."

Earlier this week the Queen and Prince Philip had delayed leaving for Sandringham because they were both too unwell to travel.

They had been scheduled to travel to their Norfolk home on Wednesday by train.

The Royal couple then flew by helicopter to Sandringham the following day.

Queen leaves for Sandringham in helicopter after illness

Prince Philip was seen at 9am going to a private Mass with Prince Charles.

This will be the first years since 1988 that the Queen has missed the service.

Crowds of people are beginning to congregate near the church to see the Royal family.

The rare times the Queen has missed royal engagements

The Queen's absence from the annual Christmas Day church service at Sandringham is one of the rare occasions she has missed an engagement.

She has been a steadfast presence during her reign, but there have been a small number of incidences when ill health has caused her to withdraw from her royal duties.

An official trip to Rome was cancelled in 2013 when the Queen was treated for the symptoms of gastroenteritis and stayed overnight in a private hospital.

In 2011 she had to miss a service of the Royal Victorian Order at Windsor Castle after suffering a nosebleed.

That was thought to be the first time she had missed a key public engagement in five years.

In 2006 she cancelled engagements after straining a back muscle and had official appointments scaled down after she underwent knee surgery in 2003.

Earlier this year an undisclosed minor ailment forced the Duke of Edinburgh to miss commemorations marking the anniversary of the First World War Battle of Jutland in Orkney, but he was present at the church service in Sandringham on Sunday.

He missed the Christmas service in 2011, after being admitted to hospital for a heart operation.