Queen Elizabeth to skip Commonwealth Summit in Colombo for the first time in 40 years

For the first time in 40 years, Queen Elizabeth II will skip the Commonwealth summit to be held in Sri Lanka in November, deciding to send her son Prince Charles instead for the biennial event.

87-year-old Queen will miss the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) for the first time since 1973, Buckingham Palace announced today."I can confirm that the Queen will be represented by the Prince of Wales. The reason is that we are reviewing the amount of long-haul travel that is taken by the Queen. As a result of that, she won't be travelling to the Commonwealth heads of government meeting later this year", a spokesman said.

This year's CHOGM has been mired in controversy, with campaigners including Amnesty International calling for not holding the summit until an investigation is carried out into alleged human rights abuses in the final six months of the 26-year Sri Lankan civil war.

Britain is facing pressure to lead a boycott of the meeting, with Canada indicating that it will not attend unless specific criteria are met.

However, Buckingham Palace said the Queen's decision not to attend was not related to the political situation in Lanka."It has nothing to do with the political situation in Sri Lanka. The key point here is that the Queen will be represented, although she is not there in person, by the Prince of Wales", the spokesman said.

The Queen first attended the meeting in Ottawa, Canada in 1973, after missing the first CHOGM in Singapore in 1971, and has been at every summit since.

The decision to send Charles instead of the Queen may also be seen as the prince's commitment to ease the burden on his elderly mother.

The decision not to travel to Sri Lanka is not one which will have been taken lightly and it is likely to cause concern about the state of the Queen's health."The Commonwealth family of nations as a whole completely understands and respects Her Majesty's decision", Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said in a statement following the announcement by the Palace.

The CHOGM this year takes place in Sri Lankan capital Colombo from November 15-17. 

The Queen, still carries out in excess of 400 engagements a year. Her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, will turn 92 in June.

The last CHOGM that the Queen attended was in Perth, Australia, 2011."We pay tribute to the continuing dedication and deep sense of duty The Queen brings to her role as Head of the Commonwealth, and to advancing our shared values as embodied in the Commonwealth Charter recently signed by Her Majesty", Sharma said."We warmly welcome Her Majesty's decision to be represented by The Prince of Wales at this year's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting reflecting as it does her unwavering devotion to the Commonwealth."The presence of The Prince of Wales at our pre-eminent Commonwealth gathering will carry forward Her Majesty's outstanding record of enduring commitment and diligent service as Head of the Commonwealth and symbol of the free association of our nations and our peoples", Sharma said.

Every two years, leaders in the grouping meet to discuss global and Commonwealth issues and to agree on collective policies and initiatives.

Although the Queen is the symbolic head of the grouping, she has no formal powers over the 54 countries and 2 billion citizens that make up the voluntary association.

The Queen was forced to miss the Commonwealth Day observance service at Westminster Abbey on March 11 this year, for the first time in 20 years. The Duke of Edinburgh attended the engagement alone.

But in a clear demonstration of her commitment to the association, the Queen attended a reception at Marlborough House the same evening to sign the new Commonwealth charter despite still recovering from the symptoms of gastroenteritis.