Posted on 09/11/2001 2:16:17 AM PDT by 2Trievers
Monday September 10 7:56 AM ET Queen Mother 'Amused' at Reports of Her Demise
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's 101-year-old Queen Mother has been ``amused'' by premature rumors of her demise, one of her aides told the Times newspaper Monday.
The mother of Queen Elizabeth appeared in public Sunday to attend a church service near the Scottish royal estate of Balmoral. Her smiling appearance allayed widespread fears over her health which have mounted since she went to hospital for tests a week ago.
Although she has seen the lighter side of some of the wilder rumors which have circulated in past days, her aide told the paper she was ``nevertheless determined to show her public that they were 100 percent untrue.''
Buckingham Palace has been inundated with concerned calls from members of the public since media reported last week that Prince Charles, heir to the throne, had canceled a planned summer holiday to be near his grandmother.
Public concerns for the much-loved royal were heightened by news that she had undergone medical tests at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary on September 1.
In August she was given a blood transfusion at a London hospital after being diagnosed as having anemia and mild heat exhaustion.
Known to many as the ``Queen Mum,'' the Queen Mother was the consort of Britain's wartime King George VI who defied German bombers by staying in London throughout Hitler's Blitz. Hitler is said to have described her as the most dangerous woman in Europe for her effect on public morale.
Her position at the top of royal popularity polls has earned her the title of the ``nation's favorite grandmother.''
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