Her absence means she will miss tomorrow's presentations and vote at which the host city of the 2018 Youth Olympic Games will be selected.

The UK's Glasgow is vying for this honour against the South American cities of Medellín and Buenos Aires.

The Colombian candidate is generally seen as favourite, though not overwhelmingly so.

The Princess Royal - like the other three British IOC members - would not have been able to cast a vote in the contest while Glasgow remained in the running even if she had made the trip here.

But her presence could have been a source of important moral support.

The Princess Royal's name was on a list of 14 IOC members "excused" from today's proceedings in the Olympic capital.

No reason for the absence was given.

Three of the 14 - Angela Ruggiero of the United States, Franco Carraro of Italy and Prince Albert of Monaco - are to attend tomorrow's proceedings, bringing the likely number of members present for the vote to 89.

The other 10 excused members are: Belgium's Baron Pierre-Oliver Beckers, Switzerland's Joseph Blatter, America's James Easton, Qatar's Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani,South Korea's Kun-Hee Lee, Egypt's Mounir Sabet, Cameroon's Issa Hayatou, Finland's Saku Koivu, canada's Rebecca Scott and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.

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