By PAN PYLAS, Related Press
LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II donned a face masks in public for the primary time through the coronavirus pandemic when attending a short ceremony at Westminster Abbey final week to mark the centenary of the burial of the Unknown Warrior.
Whereas the 94-year-old has been seen in public on a number of events over the previous few months, she had not been pictured sporting a face masking till now.
On Wednesday, throughout her first public engagement in London since March, she wore a black masks that was edged with white. Photos of the ceremony had been formally launched late Saturday.
“It was great to see Her Majesty in such good spirits and good well being,” Dr. David Hoyle, the Dean of Westminster, mentioned after the service. “We talked concerning the centenary and the lifetime of the abbey. That is the place the place she was married and she or he’s acutely aware of these associations.”
The temporary service was attended by simply the dean and the queen’s equerry, Lieutenant Colonel Nana Kofi Twumasi-Ankrah. The queen left a bouquet of orchids and myrtle, based mostly on her personal marriage ceremony bouquet from November 1947. She bowed her head after a prayer from the dean.
The queen had requested a ceremony happen because the pandemic had derailed plans for the centenary of the interment of the Unknown Warrior.
The grave is the ultimate resting place of an unidentified British soldier who died throughout World Battle I. His physique was introduced again from Northern France and buried at Westminster Abbey on Nov. 11, 1920.
The ceremony occurred a day earlier than a four-week lockdown got here into power in England. In addition to forcing the closure of an array of companies, locations of worship are having to function inside limits.
Face coverings are required by legislation in sure indoor settings resembling on public transport, in retailers and locations of worship. The British authorities additionally recommends they’re worn in indoor locations the place social distancing could also be tough and the place folks come into contact with these they don’t usually meet.
Different members of the royal household have been seen repeatedly sporting face coverings through the pandemic. The queen was criticised for not sporting one final month when she visited the Defence Science and Know-how Laboratory at Porton Down in southern England alongside her grandson Prince William.
The queen took the chance throughout her uncommon journey to London to go to Buckingham Palace, her official residence within the capital.
Earlier than the U.Okay. was put into full lockdown on March 23, the queen and her 99-year-old husband, Prince Philip, moved to Windsor Citadel, which is round 25 miles (40 kms) west of London.
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