Nancy Pelosi, 84, Fractures Hip Abroad After a ‘Hard Fall’

Former U.S. House of Speaker Nancy Pelosi was rushed to a hospital in Luxembourg on Friday after she took a “hard fall” down a marble staircase.

Pelosi, 84, tripped as she walked down the staircase at the Grand Ducal Palace in Luxembourg City, a source told The New York Times. The paper reported later Friday that the veteran lawmaker had fractured her hip in the tumble.

Pelosi was in the country as part of a bipartisan Congressional delegation that traveled to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge.

The injury came during an “official engagement,” her office said. She plans to continue working from her hospital bed.

Ian Krager, a spokesperson for the lawmaker, said in a press release that she is receiving “excellent treatment from doctors and medical professionals.”

“She continues to work and regrets that she is unable to attend the remainder of the [delegation’s] engagements,” he said.

He added that Pelosi “looks forward to returning home to the U.S. soon,” but didn’t venture an opinion as to when she might be headed back stateside.

The U.S. Embassy in Luxembourg posted a photo of Pelosi prior to her hospitalization. In it, she’s seen standing awkwardly while gripping the hand of Republican Rep. Michael T. McCaul.

It’s unclear exactly when Pelosi was taken to the hospital, but a source told The Wall Street Journal that the lawmaker fell shortly after a group photo was taken. A second source told the paper that Pelosi could walk and was alert.

The photo shared by the embassy appeared to show Pelosi wearing the signature stiletto-heeled pumps that she’s used to tread the marble floors of the U.S. Capitol for decades.

Pelosi has a special tie to the key World War II battle she traveled to commemorate, in which outnumbered Allied forces fended off a German advance in the Ardennes. Her uncle, John “Johnny” D’Alesandro, was killed during the battle.

“There wasn’t a day that went by that my father didn’t mourn the loss of his brother,” she recalled in a statement in 2010.

Pelosi’s hospitalization has revived calls for term limits in Congress from some conservative influencers, including Riley Gaines. Pelosi has been in Congress since 1987 and was Speaker of the House twice, between 2007 and 2011 and again between 2019 and 2023.

There were already widespread calls for term limits this week after Sen. Mitch McConnell, 82, fell at the Capitol on Tuesday and received medical attention for a sprained wrist. He’d previously suffered a couple of incidents where he appeared to freeze suddenly in front of reporters last year.