Queen Elizabeth II will undergo knee surgery this week, Buckingham Palace announced Tuesday.

The surgery to remove torn cartilage in her left knee is scheduled for Friday at the King Edward VII Hospital in London, the palace said.

The queen, 77, underwent a similar operation on her right knee in January after injuring it. Friday's surgery had been scheduled following the first knee operation and was not the consequence of a new fall, the palace said according to the Press Association news agency.

The queen did not show signs of discomfort on Monday while welcoming England's rugby players to Buckingham Palace following their World Cup victory parade.

"The queen is expected to leave the hospital some time during the weekend and she should be fully active again within a few weeks," a palace spokeswoman said, adding that the queen will spend Christmas with her family at the royal Sandringham estate in eastern England, as usual.

The palace said the monarch would go ahead with a palace ceremony scheduled for Wednesday, but that she would cancel two other public engagements before the operation, as well as postpone her remaining commitments next week.

The queen is often described as robustly healthy. Her few hospital treatments have included a broken arm in 1994 and a wisdom tooth removal in 1982.

Close

Today's Top News		Top International News
+Bush says he opposes referendum on Taiwan ( 2003-12-10) +Tariff rate cuts to continue, official says ( 2003-12-09) +Killer of 17 to be executed ( 2003-12-09) +Suicide bomb hits heart of Moscow, Chinese among injured ( 2003-12-09) +Guangdong to sell off islands ( 2003-12-09)		+Queen Elizabeth II to have knee surgery ( 2003-12-10) +Suicide bomb hits heart of Moscow, Chinese among injured ( 2003-12-09) +Explosion rocks Baghdad mosque, reports of deaths ( 2003-12-09) +Japan approves disputed troops-for-Iraq plan ( 2003-12-09) +Moscow car bomb kills five ( 2003-12-09)