Queen Elizabeth II makes first public appearance since contracting Covid-19

Queen Elizabeth II has returned to public duties a week after testing positive for Covid-19.

She appeared via video link from Windsor Castle to speak to dignitaries at Buckingham Palace after postponing multiple similar engagements last week.

The UK head of state’s recovery from the virus seemed to be progressing and she appeared to be in good spirits. She tested positive for Covid on February 20 and at the time was experiencing “mild cold like symptoms”, the palace said.

She is believed to be triple vaccinated, although the palace has declined to confirm this.

Queen Elizabeth II receives the Ambassador of Chad, Kedella Younous Hamidi, via video link on Tuesday. Reuters

On Tuesday she received His Excellency Mr Carles Jordana Madero, who presented the Letters of Recall of his predecessor and his own Letters of Credence as ambassador from the Principality of Andorra to the Court of St James’s.

He was joined by his wife Soraia Maria Valls Pinilla.

She also received His Excellency Mr Kedella Younous Hamidi, who presented his Letters of Credence as ambassador from the Republic of Chad to the Court of St James’s.

During the two audiences the queen wore a green dress with a large brooch and her trademark pearls.

The queen, who is due to celebrate her 96th birthday in April, was forced to push back a diplomatic reception at Windsor Castle scheduled for Wednesday. However, her illness is not believed to have played a part in the decision.

She had been due to host hundreds of members of the Diplomatic Corps but the palace said on Saturday she had accepted Foreign Secretary Liz Truss’s advice to delay the event. It is understood the decision was made because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The queen has a string of high-profile events coming up that she is due to attend, including the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey on March 14, and then the Duke of Edinburgh’s memorial service, also at the Abbey, on March 29.

She recently spent more than three months resting, on doctors’ orders.

Queen Elizabeth's 70-year reign — in pictures

Last autumn she pulled out of attending the Cop26 climate change summit in Glasgow, the Festival of Remembrance and then the Remembrance Sunday Cenotaph service due to a sprained back. She also missed the Church of England’s General Synod.

In recent months she has appeared in public carrying a walking stick and looking frailer than she had previously appeared.

During a recent Windsor Castle event, she touched on her changing condition, saying: “Well, as you can see, I can’t move.”

Her light duties as head of state include working from her red boxes, sent to her every day and containing policy papers, Foreign Office telegrams, letters and other State papers which have to be read and, where necessary, approved and signed.

Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, undertook an engagement of his own on Tuesday, to formally present Southend with the Letters Patent which grant it city status following the death of MP Sir David Amess.

Sir David, who had served as Conservative MP for Southend West since 1997, was stabbed during a constituency surgery at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, on October 15. He had campaigned for the Essex town to be given city status.

The 69-year-old was posthumously made the first freeman of the new city in a ceremony on Tuesday.

Acting on behalf of the queen, Charles, 73, formally presented the legal document which entitles the change of status, to Southend’s mayor Margaret Borton at a council meeting.

Prince Charles and Camilla at a council meeting in Southend on Tuesday. AFP

He was joined by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, who is set to become queen consort when her husband ascends the throne.

The Prince of Wales recalled meeting Sir David on a visit to the Palace Theatre in Westcliff-on-Sea in 2014, describing him as “a renowned and respected parliamentarian and an effective campaigner on many national and local issues”.

“Among them was his passionate determination to secure city status for Southend-on-Sea,” he said.

“Today, we mark the culmination of that dedicated campaign — and yet, how we all wish we could celebrate the occasion without the shadow of the dreadful event which took the life of such a devoted public servant.

“I am only too aware that today’s ceremony cannot possibly replace the agonising loss felt by Sir David’s widow, Lady (Julia) Amess, and their five children, but I do hope it will offer at least some small comfort in such unbearable sorrow.”

Our legal columnist

Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

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Cinco in numbers

Dh3.7 million

The estimated cost of Victoria Swarovski’s gem-encrusted Michael Cinco wedding gown

46

The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.

1,000

The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]

50

How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday

3,000

The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

1.1 million

The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.

List of alleged parties

May 15 2020: PM and Carrie attend 'work meeting' with at
least 17 staff members

May 20 2020: PM and Carrie attend 'bring your own booze'
party

Nov 27 2020: PM gives speech at leaving do for his staff

Dec 10 2020: Staff party held by then-education secretary
Gavin Williamson

Dec 13 2020: PM and Carrie throw a flat party

Dec 14 2020: London mayor candidate Shaun Bailey holds staff party at Conservative
Party headquarters

Dec 15 2020: PM takes part in a staff quiz

Dec 18 2020: Downing Street Christmas party

The National photo project

Chris Whiteoak, a photographer at The National, spent months taking some of Jacqui Allan's props around the UAE, positioning them perfectly in front of some of the country's most recognisable landmarks. He placed a pirate on Kite Beach, in front of the Burj Al Arab, the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland at the Burj Khalifa, and brought one of Allan's snails (Freddie, which represents her grandfather) to the Dubai Frame. In Abu Dhabi, a dinosaur went to Al Ain's Jebel Hafeet. And a flamingo was taken all the way to the Hatta Mountains. This special project suitably brings to life the quirky nature of Allan's prop shop (and Allan herself!).

THE BIO

Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979

Education: UAE University, Al Ain

Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6

Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma

Favourite book: Science and geology

Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC

Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.

While you're here

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Michael Goldfarb: First debate marks the end of an era