Queen carries out first official engagements since hospital stay

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Queen carries out first official engagements since hospital stay

Monarch, 95, holds virtual audiences from Windsor Castle after following doctor’s orders to rest

PA Media

Last modified on Tue 26 Oct 2021 08.20 EDT

The Queen has carried out virtual audiences from Windsor Castle – her first official engagements in seven days since she was ordered to rest by doctors.

It is the first time the 95-year-old head of state has been seen – albeit on a computer screen – since she hosted a busy evening reception for the global investment summit on 19 October.

She cancelled a trip to Northern Ireland, was under doctor’s orders to rest and underwent preliminary tests in hospital on 20 October during her first overnight stay at a medical facility in eight years.

The Queen was wearing a yellow dress and her three-strand pearl necklace and was seen smiling during the audiences on Tuesday.

She was pictured on a computer screen as she greeted the South Korean ambassador to the UK, Kim Gunn.

The monarch is being looked after by the medical household, her expert team of royal physicians.

She is due to attend events in Scotland next week as part of a flurry of royal Cop26 engagements involving the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge between 1 and 5 Novembe.

On the royal family’s website, the Queen is still listed as attending a reception on 1 November as part of the climate change conference.

She had a busy schedule of engagements in the first weeks of October after her return from Balmoral, and her hospital stay was kept a secret and only confirmed by the palace when it was revealed by the Sun newspaper.

The Queen was seen using a walking stick for the first time at a major engagement during a Westminster Abbey service on 12 October.

On 21 October, she was said to be in “good spirits” after her hospital stay and back at her desk, undertaking light duties.

But she missed a church service at Windsor on Sunday.

Royal sources had briefed the Sunday Times that the Queen was “knackered” due to a busy social life and preference for late night television, as well as having a hectic run of engagements in October.

The Queen’s husband of 73 years, the Duke of Edinburgh, died six months ago at the age of 99.

Buckingham Palace would not comment on whether the monarch had received her booster Covid-19 jab, but given her age it is likely she has already had it.

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