Queen Elizabeth II appeared smiling at an equestrian competition in Windsor on Friday, in images released in an attempt to allay concerns about her health just days after she was replaced by her son Charles at an event. parliamentary.
Passionate about horses, the 96-year-old queen was photographed arriving by car at the “Royal Windsor Horse Show” near Windsor Castle. The property is about 40km west of London, where the monarch has lived since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Wearing sunglasses, she appeared sitting in the front seat of a Range Rover. From the lowered window of the vehicle, she was seen exchanging a few words with a small group of people.
Several of the queen’s horses participate in this competition.
Due to mobility problems and following the advice of her doctors, Elizabeth gave up, on Tuesday (10), from delivering the traditional “throne speech”, which marks, every year, the beginning of a new parliamentary session.
It is the third time she has been absent from this constitutional event in her 70-year reign and the first time she has been replaced by Charles, the 73-year-old Crown Prince. Thus, she takes another step in the progressive transition of monarchical functions, due to her increasing health problems.
In recent months, his public appearances have become very rare. In them, she was seen walking with a cane, complaining that it is difficult to get around. According to the British press, the monarch uses a wheelchair in her private life.
Her health has been a concern since October, when she spent a night in hospital for unspecified tests. In February, she was infected with the coronavirus, which, in her words, made her “very tired”.
Her last public appearance was on March 29, on the occasion of a mass in London in honor of her husband, Prince Philip, who died in 2021, aged 99.
His absence from the throne speech raised doubts about his participation in early June in the “platinum jubilee” celebrations for his 70-year reign, a record for a British monarch.
According to a YouGov poll for The Times, a third of Britons think she should retire.
