The Queen has left Windsor Castle for a private weekend away at her Sandringham home in Norfolk.

It is understood the 95-year-old head of state is spending a few days at her estate after it was announced last week her doctors had advised her to rest for a period.

Aviation sources disclosed the Queen flew by helicopter to her home in East Anglia, a private trip that was long planned.

The Queen is undertaking a period of rest after she had preliminary tests in hospital on October 20 during her first overnight stay at a medical facility in eight years.

But she has been carrying out light duties from her desk, and recorded a video message for Cop26 world leaders who met earlier in the week in Glasgow.

The head of state urged them to work together in “common cause” to tackle climate change, and hoped the summit’s legacy would be they recognised “the time for words has now moved to the time for action”.

She also carried out her weekly meeting with Prime Minister Boris Johnson by telephone on Wednesday.

There has been concern for the Queen given her advanced years, but medics see the two-week period of rest, announced last Friday, as a sensible precaution.

In a statement at the time, Buckingham Palace said the monarch would miss the annual Festival of Remembrance staged by the Royal British Legion at the Royal Albert Hall and attended by senior members of the Royal Family.

But the Queen has the “firm intention” of leading the nation in honouring the country’s war dead on Remembrance Sunday on November 14.