But she is expected to return to light duties later this week, including virtual audiences with diplomats, after missing the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph in London because of a sprained back.

       Apart from her daily routine of going through official state papers, she had no other formal duties yesterday.

       The 95-year-old monarch has no further outside engagements in the next few weeks, meaning it may be January or February before she is seen in public.

       Normally she goes to Sandringham at Christmas and resumes public engagements in mid-February. However, she could remain at Windsor.

       Royal commentators have suggested she has entered a new phase, seen on video far more than in the flesh.

       Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, said: "In terms of official engagements before the end of the year, I don't think we will see her out and about doing anything officially, even if she recovers from the sprained back."

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       It is difficult for her aides to plan anything as she recovers from her back sprain and follows doctors' orders to rest after an apparently more serious and unexplained ailment.

       She should have been attending the Church of England's General Synod today.