Wednesday February 21 8:06 AM ET
Queen Caught Napping

LONDON (Reuters) - Pictures of Britain's Queen Elizabeth asleep in the back of her car were splashed in newspapers Wednesday, prompting suggestions that she should hand over more royal duties to Prince Charles. The top-selling Sun tabloid headlined its report: ``Her Royal Tiredness -- Busy Queen Grabs 40 Winks.''

``Life can be pretty tiring when one is Queen... She is 75 in April and well past normal retirement age,'' the Sun said.

Royal biographer Philip Ziegler said the pictures of the queen dozing on her way to Buckingham Palace from Windsor Castle just outside London raised questions about her workload.

``One must ask: can she go on like this? Can she really continue with more than 500 public engagements every year?'' Ziegler wrote in the Daily Mail.

In addition to her public engagements the queen has to wade through masses of government paperwork in her capacity as head of state.

``Surely the time has come for her to consider how she can at least share the burden,'' Ziegler said.

He said Charles, the queen's eldest son and heir to the throne, was already taking on some of her tasks.

``There is no reason why this should not be more and more the case, until the Queen reserves herself only for the most significant occasions, such as the State Opening of Parliament,'' Ziegler said.

``She is still the Queen, but queens are mortal, and flesh and blood grow weary, however gilded the surroundings.''