Fears grow over monarch’s health

King George remains in Brighton, where snowfall in recent days is being blamed for a renewed flare-up of his gout. This is just the latest health issue afflicting the head of state, who was unable to open Parliament in person at the start of February as a result.

Friends of the King are understood to feel that he has aged significantly in recent months.

“He suffers dreadfully from rheumatic gout so as hardly to be able to turn in bed without screaming,” one said. “I cannot help feeling that his life is very precarious - one thing after another always starting up and keeping him so weak and ill.”

Should symptoms get worse, it is likely that the King may have to use crutches to get around, and he may be confined to the Royal Pavilion. o