Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has announced that she will be stepping down as patron of 25 charities, including from Wimbledon. This comes as part of a step towards easing workload ahead of her 91st birthday next year. <br/><br/>The Queen is royal patron of more than 600 bodies, 433 of which she has been patron of since 1952. <br/><br/>Buckingham Palace said the announcement was the start of a process that would see patronages passed on to other royal family members in the coming months, believed to be a way of allowing the monarch to make fewer public appearances. <br/>

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II today announced that she will be stepping down as patron of 25 charities, including from Wimbledon. This comes as part of a step towards easing workload ahead of her 91st birthday next year. <br/><br/>The Queen is royal patron of more than 600 bodies, 433 of which she has been patron of since 1952. Buckingham Palace said the announcement was the start of a process that would see patronages passed on to other royal family members in the coming months, believed to be a way of allowing the monarch to make fewer public appearances. <br/>