She was hospitalised twice recently an that points to the fact that she will have to slow down soon.
Princess Alexandra has cancelled all engagements, another of her cousins (can't recollect if it was the Duke of Kent or Gloucester) suffered a stroke, Prince Philip has just been released from hospital. All these people are about the Queens age and are having to cut down on engagements.
Wow, two things.
One: HM has been slowing down and reducing her engagements for awhile, because she cannot maintain the same amount of stamina that she once had when she was younger. That said, HM has never had any serious health problems, and she seems to enjoy continuing to do engagements given as she's the one who choses to do them.
Two: HM is not about the same age as Princess Alexandra or the Duke of Kent. Or, for that matter, her other paternal cousins. The Duke of Kent is the closest in age, and yet he's still 9 years younger than her. We've seen the Kents and Gloucesters reduce their engagements for a number of reasons: one, in the case of Alexandra and the DoK they have had some serious health problems, and two, they're minor royals who are never going to inherit the throne, and who there is very little public demand from.
I think it's only fair that the queen steps down and let's Charles take over. He has had a long time to prepare and it would be sad to see him as a king in waiting when the older generation should actually sit back and enjoy the last few years of their life.
Of course I'm aware that for her this is a duty for life. But it's about time she really have a normal life.
The older generation has no requirement to sit back and hand the reigns over to a younger generation. And, as it has been said many times in this thread, HM has made several vows throughout her life dedicating herself to the service of her country for all of her days. In her eyes, she has sworn to God and her subjects that she will serve Britain and the Commonwealth as best as she can until she dies. That doesn't really come about by abdicating.
Personally I don't think it's sad to see Charles as PoW at all, regardless of his age. In a lot of ways he has been freer to do things and express himself than it would be (and will be) were he king. I have no doubt that when he does step into the role of King Charles will do wonderful, as he is well aware of what is expected of him and what he can and cannot do once in that role. However, I don't think he's actually rushing for it, as people seem to believe. He's always been a little too political, which he knows he cannot be once he is king.