Queen hands over Remembrance Sunday wreath-laying duty to Prince Charles

Monarch will watch the ceremony from balcony with Prince Philip

Queen Elizabeth II lays a wreath during the 2016 Remembrance Sunday Service at the Cenotaph on Whitehall in London (Getty)

Queen Elizabeth has asked her eldest son Prince Charles to lay a wreath on her behalf at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday, a duty she usually carries out herself.

Prince Charles will lead the commemorations on Sunday 12 November, while the monarch will watch the ceremony from the balcony of the Foreign Office.

“At Her Majesty’s request, a wreath will be laid on her behalf by The Prince of Wales,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement.

The Queen has only missed the wreath-laying ceremony six times during her reign.

Four of those times she was on foreign visits to Ghana, Brazil, Kenya and South Africa and she missed two ceremonies before the births of her sons Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

A palace source said the Queen had decided to hand over the duty to Prince Charles to be with her husband, 96-year-old Prince Philip, Reuters reported.

She also acknowledged the event was demanding for someone in their 90s.

The Queen, who is Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, has been reducing her workload in recent years.

Prince Philip officially retired from royal duties earlier this year.

Remembrance Sunday is marked every year to commemorate “the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women” in the two World Wars and later conflicts.