One in three Britons think the Queen should retire

Her Majesty has missed several significant events this year due to health problems

Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Windsor Horse Show (PA)

A third of Britons think that the Queen should retire and let her son, the Prince of Wales, take over after she missed a series of in-person events due to mobility issues.

A new YouGov survey revealed a distinct shift in public opinion about whether the Queen should remain as head of state for the rest of her life.

For the past two years since the polling began, more than half of Britons thought Her Majesty should continue her reign until she dies, while only a quarter thought she should retire.

But the new survey, carried out for Times Radio, showed an increase in the number of people who think the monarch should withdraw from the throne (34 per cent), while less than half (49 per cent) think she should continue working.

The monarch, who turned 96 last month, missed the opening of Parliament on Tuesday for the first time since 1963 due to “episodic mobility problems”.

Prince Charles took her place to read the Queen’s Speech for the first time in a historic, unprecedented move which was been interpreted as a major shift in his responsibilities.

The Queen attended the Royal Windsor Horse Show on Friday and appeared in good spirits despite having cancelled her attendance on the first day of the annual three-day show.

It marked her first public appearance since March, when she attended a service to commemorate the life of the late Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey.

The survey, which polled 1,990 people, revealed that the demographics that showed the most support for the Queen’s retirement were Labour voters (39 per cent), those who voted to remain in the European Union during Brexit (38 per cent), people aged 50 to 64 (37 per cent), and men (35 per cent).

The vast majority of those polled (80 per cent) thought the Queen had personally done a good job throughout her 70-year reign, and 36 per cent think Charles will make a good king – an increase from 32 per cent who thought the same last month.

The Queen is also expected to miss the royal garden party events at Buckingham Palace, which are taking place again for the first time since 2019.

The three garden parties, which are usually held every summer but were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, will be attended by other members of the royal family instead.

A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said details on attendance would be confirmed in due course.

The Queen is celebrating her Platinum Jubilee this year with a four-day bank holiday weekend in June that will see a packed schedule of events taking place.