Ailing Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday made her first major public appearance in months at a thanksgiving service for her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year aged 99.
The service featured the hymn “Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer,” fulfilling one of Philip’s wishes for his funeral that wasn’t carried out because of restrictions that banned singing.
Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who was by his wife’s side for more than seven decades, passed away at their Windsor Castle home in April, two months shy of his 100th birthday.
Only 30 people attended last year’s funeral, conducted under the strict COVID-19 lockdown rules then in place that forced the queen to sit alone wearing a black mask as she mourned the loss of her husband, who she called her rock.
Tuesday’s service of thanksgiving at London’s Westminster Abbey was a much bigger event, with the queen joining her heir, Prince Charles, his son William and wife Kate and other members of the royal family, including their children.
Joining them in the congregation was foreign kings and queens, friends of the late duke, politicians including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, military figures and more than 500 representatives from charities and other organisations he championed.
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Buckingham Palace said the 95-year-old queen had been actively involved in its planning.
The monarch herself has been forced to cut back on her duties since she spent a night in hospital last October for an unspecified illness and was advised to rest, and there have been concerns about her health after she cancelled a number of planned engagements since then.
The occasion also marked the first public event for her second son Prince Andrew since he made an undisclosed payment to settle a US lawsuit over allegations he sexually assaulted a teenage girl decades ago, claims he denied.
Prince Harry, who has moved to live in the United States with his wife Meghan, did not attend the service following a disagreement with the government over security protection.
Elizabeth, who recently recovered from COVID-19, didn’t go to a Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey earlier this month, but she continued with other scheduled engagements, including in-person audiences.
(With inputs from agencies)
