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She issued Letters Patent authorising the heir to the throne and second in line to jointly stand in for her at the ceremony, where the monarch conducts one of her most important constitutional roles by opening the new Parliamentary session and reading out her Government’s legislative programme.

Buckingham Palace cited the Queen’s “episodic mobility problems” for her decision to pull out at the last minute on doctors’ advice.

Charles 73, has accompanied her to the State Opening many times before but this will be the first time he has acted in place of the sovereign. He has been tasked with reading the Queen’s Speech, setting out the Government’s agenda.

The decision to ask him to stand in for the monarch, unprecedented in modern history, signals a signficant shift in his responsibilities as a King-in-Waiting.

But he will not sit on the Queen’s throne. That will be left empty while Charles, in the uniform of Admiral of the Fleet, sits with Camilla in the seats they have usually occupied since they started accompanying the Queen regularly to the ceremony in 2013. Before then he attended 15 times up until 1996 but stopped until 2013 in the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death.

Even though the monarch will not be there physically, the Crown, which the Queen has stopped wearing because it is too heavy for her, will be brought to Parliament so that she is there in spirit.

William, 39, another future monarch, will attend in his role as the other Counsellor of State capable of standing in for the monarch if she is incapacitated and watch the ceremony from a seat opposite, dressed in a morning coat.

In a statement, Buckingham Palace said: “The Queen continues to experience episodic mobility problems, and in consultation with her doctors has reluctantly decided that she will not attend the State Opening of Parliament tomorrow.”

“At Her Majesty’s request, and with the agreement of the relevant authorities, the Prince of Wales will read the Queen’s Speech on Her Majesty’s behalf, with the Duke of Cambridge also in attendance.”

The new Letters Patent are limited to authorising Charles and William to stand in for her today and do not delegate any other functions.

The Queen’s mobility problems are understood to be a continuation of those she has experienced since last autumn. But she has still been able to undertake light duties. She took part in a call to Australia, has a virtual Privy Council meeting and telephone audience with the Prime Minister scheduled today, and is expected to undertake some “private” engagements later this week.

She has only missed opening Parliament twice before in her 70-year reign in 1959 and 1963 when she was pregnant with Prince Andrew and Prince Edward and on both occasions, her speech was read by the Lord Chancellor.

Queen Victoria regularly missed the State Opening of Parliament after her husband Prince Albert’s death in 1861 and even when she returned she had the Lord Chancellor read out the speech.

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