Queen Elizabeth II cancelled a visit to one of the country's top schools due to a suspected outbreak of swine flu there, Buckingham Palace said yesterday.

She had been due to open a new sports hall at Gordonstoun School in northeast Scotland, where her husband Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, and children including her eldest son and heir Prince Charles were educated.

But the visit scheduled for next Tuesday was cancelled on the suggestion of the school.

"At the request of the principal of Gordonstoun School following a suspected outbreak of the H1N1 virus (swine flu), with regret the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have postponed a visit to the school," said a royal press officer.

Britain is the worst hit country in Europe by the A(H1N1) virus, a global pandemic which the World Health Organisation says has killed 2,837 people around the world since it emerged in Mexico in April.

The 83-year-old monarch has had no particular health worries, although Prince Philip, 88, spent three nights in hospital last year for a chest infection, and pulled a muscle in his back in January.

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