The Queen Makes First In-Person Appearance Since Testing Positive For Covid

The queen met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Windsor Castle.
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The Queen on Monday made her first in-person appearance since Buckingham Palace announced that she tested positive for COVID-19 on February 20.

The British monarch, who turns 96 next month, met with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau at Windsor Castle, where she now resides.

Queen Elizabeth II receives Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Windsor Castle, on March 7.
Steve Parsons - WPA Pool/Getty Images
Queen Elizabeth II receives Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Windsor Castle, on March 7.

The Queen has other in-person events scheduled later this month, though a Buckingham Palace spokesperson wouldn’t elaborate to HuffPost on Monday about her future engagements.

Blue and yellow flowers shown behind the queen and Trudeau in photos of their meeting were in honour of Ukraine, according to Roya Nikkhah, royal editor of the Sunday Times.

“Royal sources confirm they are a deliberate sign of Her Majesty’s support and that ‘very little tends to happen by accident,’” Nikkhah tweeted on Monday.

The queen made a donation to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal last week amid Russia’s invasion of the country.

Nikkhah was the first to report that the queen was giving up her main residence of Buckingham Palace to live permanently at Windsor Castle, where she resided for most of the pandemic with her late husband, Prince Philip.

Queen Elizabeth II pictured at Windsor Castle on July 17.
Chris Jackson via Getty Images
Queen Elizabeth II pictured at Windsor Castle on July 17.

Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen was “experiencing mild cold like symptoms,” in a statement revealing her Covid diagnosis in February, just days after both Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, also tested positive.

The Queen resumed virtual appearances last week after previously cancelling some engagements due to her health. Despite the cancellations, Buckingham Palace said the Queen was well enough to hold her weekly audience with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a revelation that silenced false rumours of her death amid her illness.

The U.S.-based blog Hollywood Unlocked started the rumours after sharing a fake “exclusive” claiming that Queen Elizabeth was dead on February 22. Though the palace didn’t acknowledge the report at the time, it relayed information about the queen’s call with Johnson the next day.

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