The Queen is known for her strong constitution and no fuss approach to her infrequent illnesses.

The 93-year-old head of state has missed her annual visit to the Sandringham Women’s Institute due to a slight cold.

Elizabeth II, who is the nation’s longest reigning monarch, has spent the last couple of weeks dealing with the crisis surrounding the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, after Harry and Meghan decided to walk away from royal life.

Earlier this month, the Queen was spotted wearing a hearing aid in public for what is believed to be the first time while attending church in Norfolk.

The Queen may be in her nineties, but she still maintains a diary of royal engagements, and each day, deals with her red box of official papers, even when on her traditional winter break at Sandringham.

Trooping the Colour
The Queen at a Trooping the Colour celebration (Pete Summers/PA)

In 2016, she called time on her overseas travels, leaving long-haul destinations to the younger members of her family.

Her son the Duke of York once described her as being incredibly fit for her age.

The monarch still rides her Fell ponies at Windsor, and drives, mainly around her private estates.

She missed the christening of her great-grandson Prince Louis in July 2018, but not because of illness.

It was mutually agreed in advance by the monarch and the Cambridges that the Queen would not attend the celebration, which fell at the beginning of a busy week of engagements including the centenary of the RAF and a visit by US President Donald Trump.

On June 28 2018, the Queen pulled out of a service at St Paul’s Cathedral because she was feeling “under the weather”.

In May 2018, the head of state had eye surgery to remove a cataract.

Buckingham Palace garden party
The Queen at a garden party at Buckingham Palace in London in May 2018 (Yui Mok/PA)

She was treated as a day patient and did not cancel any engagements nor appearances, but was spotted wearing sunglasses.

In November 2017, the Prince of Wales led the nation in honouring the country’s war dead on Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph.

It was the first time that the Queen, as head of state, had watched the ceremony from a nearby balcony, and was seen as a sign of the royal family in transition and an acknowledgement of her age.

Remembrance Sunday 2017
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh observe the annual Remembrance Sunday Service at the Cenotaph memorial from a balcony in Whitehall (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Just before Christmas 2016, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh both fell ill with heavy colds, forcing them to delay their trip to Sandringham by a day.

The Queen was not well enough to attend the Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene Church and also missed the New Year’s Day one.

She later described it as a “particularly grisly mixture of cold and flu”.

She turned 90 in 2016 and, the same year, used the lift rather than stairs to enter Parliament for the State Opening, avoiding the 26 steps of the royal staircase at the Sovereign’s Entrance.

State Opening of Parliament 2016
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh walk through to the Robing Room, after using a lift, rather than stairs, at the State Opening of Parliament (Yui Mok/PA)

Buckingham Palace said the “modest adjustment” to arrangements were made for “the Queen’s comfort”.

The decision was attributed to the Queen suffering from knee pain.

At the state opening of October 2019, the Queen wore the lighter George IV Diadem throughout, rather than switching into the heavy Imperial State Crown.

In 2014, the Prince of Wales stood in for the Queen for part of the Order of the Bath service to avoid her having to make an extra journey up and down some steep steps in full regalia.

In November 2013, the Duke of Cambridge stepped in to represent the Queen at an investiture ceremony after she suffered some “mild discomfort” with her ankle after a busy weekend of engagements including the service of remembrance at the Cenotaph.

Remembrance Sunday 2013
The Queen at the Cenotaph in 2013 (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Her first hospital stay in 10 years came in 2013 when she was 86 after she suffered symptoms of gastroenteritis and missed an engagement in Swansea when she was due to present St David’s Day leeks to the 3rd Battalion The Royal Welsh.

On March 3 2013, she was admitted to King Edward VII’s Hospital to be assessed.

A week of engagements, including a two-day trip to Rome, was cancelled.

The Queen spent one night in hospital and left thanking staff and smiling before being driven to Buckingham Palace to rest.

The Queen in 2013
The Queen leaves King Edward VII’s Hospital in London in 2013 (Yui Mok/PA)

It was thought her public appearances were back on track until Buckingham Palace announced on the morning of the Commonwealth Day Observance service on March 11 that she regrettably could no longer attend “as she continues to recover following her recent illness”.

It was the first Commonwealth Day Observance service she had missed in 20 years, the last occasion being when she had flu in 1993.

The Queen, who placed great importance to her role as Head of the Commonwealth, did however attend the Commonwealth Reception at Marlborough House on the evening of March 11 to sign the new Commonwealth Charter.

Buckingham Palace insisted it was just the “tail end” of the symptoms and that her condition had not worsened.

But the next day she cancelled her engagements for the rest of the week, with her son, the Duke of York, saying later that it was sensible not to risk her coming out, but that she was not ill.

Her illnesses have been few and far between over the years.

She has suffered from back pain, and also had operations to remove torn cartilage from both knees.

She caught measles when Prince Charles was two months old in 1949 and had to be separated from her baby son.

The first time the Queen was actually admitted to hospital was in July 1982 when she had a wisdom tooth extracted at the King Edward VII Hospital in central London.

The Queen’s no fuss approach to injury and illness was perfectly illustrated in 1994.

She broke her left wrist when her horse tripped during a ride on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk.

The Queen with a broken arm
The Queen wears her plaster cast arm in a sling while visiting Anguilla (Martin Keene/PA)

The break was not diagnosed until almost 24 hours later when her arm was X-rayed and set in plaster at a hospital.

It was the first time she had fallen in many years and the Queen had simply brushed herself down, remounted her horse and trotted on back to Sandringham.