Queen Elizabeth II makes a surprise appearance on the last day of her Platinum Jubilee

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Absent for most of the events celebrating her 70th year of reign, Elizabeth II, 96, made a surprise appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on Sunday, the last day of the Platinum Jubilee festivities.

The monarch wore a green dress and was accompanied by her son Charles, the first in line to the British throne, alongside his wife Camila, as well as grandson William, with his wife Kate and the couple’s three children. She smiled and waved at the crowd, who were frantically hoisting UK flags.

Elizabeth attended most of the events that honored her from Windsor Castle. Alleging mobility discomforts, the longest-lived queen of the United Kingdom was represented by her relatives, especially the heirs Charles and William, in addition to Princess Anne, in the festivities that took over the country since Thursday (2).

The brief appearance — it lasted about 10 minutes, according to the British BBC broadcast — was a way of appeasing the monarch’s absence. Charles, 73, is slowly taking over the public duties of his mother, who was hospitalized for examinations last year.

The heir, like the mother, enjoys popularity, but at much lower rates. Charles has around 50% favorable opinions among Britons, a recent YouGov poll shows, while Elizabeth has 75%. Only 32% think he will be a good king.

The last day of the jubilee celebrations was a dip into Elizabeth’s life story. Thousands of people, adorned with the colors of the British flag, followed the route that the queen took on the day of her coronation, 69 years ago, in 1953. Dancers dressed in 1950s clothes walked along the important Mall Avenue.

The Gold State Coach carriage, which took the monarch to Westminster Abbey when she was crowned, was seen in public for the first time in about two decades after it was last used on the Golden Jubilee — 50 years in the throne in 2002.

All over the country, thousands of lunches and street parties were held to remember the monarch. In Windsor alone, 488 tables were placed at the entrance to the castle where she resides, and Prince Charles and his wife went to lunch at a cricket pitch.

Elizabeth II reigned longer than any of her predecessors. She ascended the throne at age 25, in 1952, when she was on an official trip to Kenya following the death of her father, King George VI.

The country, at that point, was still emerging from the devastation of the Second World War, and Winston Churchill was prime minister — the queen has accompanied 14 prime ministers since she came to the throne.

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