A doctor has explained what has happened to the Queen's hands after they were seen to have turned purple in her latest public appearance.
The Queen has been unwell for a number of weeks having been told by doctors to rest since the middle of October.
She was taken to hospital for tests.
The Queen has cancelled a number of engagements and was unable to attend the Remembrance service at the Cenotaph this year.
The monarch is understood to have no major engagements now until next year.
But she has been seen taking audiences at Windsor Castle. This week she met the outgoing armed forces chief General Sir Nick Carter.
It was during this meeting that the discolouration of her hands became obvious.
Dr Jay Verma of the Shakespeare Medical Centre told the Metro : "The purple is due to deoxygenated blood.”
Dr Verma said purple hands can be caused by Reynaud's, cold or “lack of circulation, frail skin, exposed veins, bruising, a leakage of blood to the tissue beneath the skin".
Prince Charles has had trouble with his hands on a number of occasions, most recently in May this year when they swelled during a public appearance.
In 2012, during a trip to Australia his hands were in the news and he joked about his “sausage fingers”, and in 2019 during a visit to India his hands could be seen to be enlarged and it was thought that heat and long-haul flights were behind it.
