Britain’s Queen Elizabeth carried out her first face-to-face engagement this year on Wednesday, two days after the country’s strict COVID-19 lockdown was eased, Trend reports with reference to Reuters.
The 94-year-old monarch, who has continued to carry out her official duties by videolink since a lockdown was imposed at the start of the year, visited the Air Forces memorial in Runnymede to mark the centenary of the Royal Australian Air Force.
Runnymede is close to Windsor Castle, west of London, where the queen has been staying with her 99-year-old husband Prince Philip, who recently spent four weeks in hospital for treatment for an infection and to have a heart procedure.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been here,” said Elizabeth, who is also Queen of Australia, as she arrived.
The last engagement she performed in public came in December at Windsor when she thanked local volunteers and key workers, and has rarely left the castle since the outbreak of the pandemic in March last year.