Queen Elizabeth Smiles During First Official Appearance After Prince Philip's Death

While Queen Elizabeth has waded through rather challenging times in the recent past— with the royal rift deepening, followed by Prince Philip’s passing—she continues to put on a brave and cheery front. And, the same was evidenced as she undertook two virtual audiences on Tuesday, roughly about 10 days after the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral.

The monarch is currently working from home at Windsor Castle, in keeping with the pandemic’s guidelines, and carried out two meetings with the ambassador from the Republic of Latvia and the ambassador from the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, as reported by Hello! magazine.

Photographs from the meet were shared on the Royal family’s official Twitter handle that showed the Queen in a pale blue floral number, paired with a pearl necklace that added to her charm. What was inspiring to note was the Queen’s pleasant demeanor, shortly after coming out of the mourning period of two weeks on the account of the death of the longest-serving consort. The Queen held her first in-person engagement in the week following his death.

The Queen and Prince Philip were married for 73 years, and royal insiders believe they had one of the most successful marriages in the history of the British Royal Family. Philip breathed his last in the Windsor Castle on April 9. The royal family went into a mourning period of two weeks—that ended on April 17.

The funeral marked the return of Prince Harry to the UK, albeit it was a brief visit. Harry left for the US a day before the Queen’s 95th birthday, despite there being speculations that the Duke of Sussex contemplated staying back for a little longer to be a part of his grandma’s low-key family celebrations. Meghan Markle, who couldn’t make it to the funeral, reportedly sent a hand-written note along with a wreath, for Philip’s funeral.

The Queen, who just turned 95, continues to be active with her engagements and is slated to get on with future assignments such as meeting members of the diplomatic community and hosting brief one-on-one audiences, as cited in CNN World. The content of the meetings wasn’t discussed, as they fell under the ambit of the Queen’s private engagements, as cited in the royal family’s website.