Queen Elizabeth Steps Out for the First Time After Husband Prince Philip's Death to Walk Her Dogs
Queen Elizabeth has stepped out one week after the death of Prince Philip, her beloved husband of 73 years.
The monarch, 94, drove from Windsor Castle to the nearby Frogmore Gardens on Friday to walk her dogs, marking the first time she's been seen since Philip's death on April 9 at the age of 99.
The Queen has owned corgis and dorgis (a cross with a dachshund) all her adult life, but was down to her last one, Candy, following the death of another dorgi, Vulcan, late last year. She recently added two new corgis to the family, a dorgi named Fergus (after her late uncle Fergus Bowes-Lyon) and a corgi named Muick (named after Loch Muick on the Queen's Balmoral estate in Scotland).
The Image Direct Queen Elizabeth
Queen Elizabeth has not yet addressed Prince Philip's death with the public (aside from a statement released on her behalf announcing his death on April 9), but many family members have shared statements praising Philip's dedication to the monarch, the country and the Commonwealth.
Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images Queen Elizabeth and her dogs
The day after Prince Philip's death, the Queen's daughter-in-law Sophie, Countess of Wessex tearfully told people gathered outside Windsor Castle that "the Queen has been amazing."
Amid reports that the monarch will be accompanied by family members at future engagements, a former senior aide at the palace tells PEOPLE, "Her family will step up and be by her side, but she will carry on. She understands that she has a job to do, and [Philip] would have wanted her to crack on. She did do so when he retired from public life."
A close royal insider adds, "She will never abdicate because of duty and honor and public service is so deep in her, as it was for him."
Samir Hussein/WireImage Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in 2017
The Queen resumed her royal duties just days after Philip's death, hosting a retirement ceremony Tuesday at Windsor Castle in honor of Earl Peel who stepped down as Lord Chamberlain a week before Prince Philip died, according to the Court Circular.
Prior to Peel's retirement after 14 years in the Lord Chamberlain position, he was overseeing the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral proceedings. Peel's duties are being taken over by former MI5 spy chief Baron Andrew Parker.
Central Press/Getty Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip on their honeymoon in 1947
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At 13, the future Queen first met a then 18-year-old Prince Philip when she joined her parents and sister Princess Margaret on a 1939 visit to Dartmouth naval college. While Elizabeth was reserved and shy, she was smitten by Philip's zest for adventure.
"She fell in love, and she never looked at anyone else," biographer Sally Bedell Smith tells PEOPLE in this week's cover story.
