The Queen cancelled her visit to the opening of Arsenal football club's new stadium today due to a strained muscle in her back following concerns that she should reduce her workload.

It is thought the 80-year-old monarch sustained her injury shortly before her recent tour of the Baltic states and Buckingham Palace said that the problem had worsened during her annual stay at Balmoral Castle.

It is rare for the Queen to cancel official visits but on the advice of doctors she has reduced her workload.

It is also emerged she will be unable to attend her engagements tomorrow which were due to include the races at Newmarket as well as a lunch with the stewards at the Jockey Club to mark her 80th birthday this year.

Buckingham Palace said it was reviewing her condition on a daily basis and would make an announcement tomorrow, but Lisa Hancock, managing director of Newmarket Racecourses, said: "We are obviously very disappointed that the Queen will not be able to come racing tomorrow and we wish her a speedy recovery.

"The race meeting will obviously go ahead as planned, with all the races themed around some of the Queen’s notable horses from years gone by."

Today, the Queen had been due to meet Arsenal staff, fans and players including manager Arsene Wenger and captain Thierry Henry on a tour of the new multimillion-pound Emirates Stadium in north London.

A plaque declaring that the stadium was opened by the Queen, is already in place at the ground and will have to be taken down. The Duke of Edinburgh will still attend the occasion.

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: "Her Majesty the Queen has reluctantly agreed to cancel a visit to Arsenal football stadium today due to a strained muscle in her back. Doctors advised Her Majesty to reduce her workload today and will review her progress on a daily basis.

"The strained muscle was sustained at the end of the Balmoral period and has not improved during a busy two weeks of engagements."

The Queen was forced to cancel several official visits last year after she caught a bad cold and suffered from a sore throat.

In January 2003, her official engagements were scaled down following keyhole surgery on an injury to her right knee. She suffered a torn cartilage when she jarred her knee walking on rough ground during a private visit to Newmarket, Suffolk.

In March 1993, she was forced to cancel several engagements because she had the flu. However, in the same month, she refused to cancel a visit to a handbag factory despite having had three stitches in her left hand after being bitten by one of her corgis.

In 1994, she wore a plaster cast after she broke her left wrist when her horse tripped during a ride on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk.

The Queen, who is known for her robust health, will still undertake today's programme of audiences at Buckingham Palace.

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