Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, England, offered prayers on Thursday for Queen Elizabeth II, who is reportedly under medical supervision at Balmoral Castle in Scotland with multiple family members traveling to be by her side.
“I am concerned to hear the news about Her Majesty the Queen’s health. I offer my prayers for her and her family. May the blessings of the Lord strengthen and comfort her and her family,” Nichols, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, wrote on Twitter Sept. 8.
The 96-year-old British monarch has been on a summer break at her Scottish home since July, the BBC reported. As of Thursday afternoon, all the queen’s children were traveling to or had arrived at the castle.
Buckingham Palace issued a brief — and rare — statement concerning the queen’s health just after noon local time, saying that following an evaluation this morning, the queen’s doctors are “concerned for Her Majesty’s health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision.”
The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said: “My prayers, and the prayers of people across the [Church of England] and the nation, are with Her Majesty the Queen today. May God’s presence strengthen and comfort Her Majesty, her family, and those who are caring for her at Balmoral,” reported the BBC. The British monarch is head of the Church of England.
Since her reign began in 1952, Queen Elizabeth has met five popes. In 2010, she welcomed then Pope Benedict XVI to the U.K., the first state visit of a pope to the country. St. John Paul II had visited the U.K. and met with the queen in 1982, but his was a pastoral rather than a state visit.
Benedict later said he retained “warm memories of the gracious welcome” given to him by Queen Elizabeth at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh on the first day of his visit.