It's Business as Usual for Queen Elizabeth as She Visits a Ship in Portsmouth
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The royal family has been making headlines around the world as the BBC published its report into Princess Diana’s Panorama interview and Prince Harry made further revelations about life as a royal in his Apple TV mental health series. But it was business as usual for the Queen today as she appeared in Portsmouth to tour HMS Queen Elizabeth ahead of the ship’s maiden operational deployment.
Looking smart in a bright red outfit by Stewart Parvin, the Queen, who is the ship’s Sponsor, climbed on board the vessel to receive a briefing on its upcoming deployment. The ship will lead the Royal Navy’s UK Carrier Strike Group on a 28-week journey traveling over 26,000 nautical miles from the Mediterranean to the Philippine Sea.
The Monarch previously named HMS Queen Elizabeth in July 2014 in Fife, Scotland accompanied by Prince Philip and attended the vessel’s commissioning ceremony in Portsmouth in December 2017.
Today’s outing signaled the ongoing return to public engagements following a year in which the royal family has primarily been seen working digitally. Earlier this month the Queen formally opened UK Parliament in a scaled back ceremony because of the coronavirus pandemic.
However, she continues to reside at Windsor Castle, where she has remained for the majority of the pandemic. Several audiences have been conducted via video link with participants invited to Buckingham Palace to greet the Queen digitally from Windsor. Royal aides announced at the start of this year that garden parties would be canceled and a few weeks later it was confirmed that the Queen’s official birthday parade will be scaled back and help in the grounds of Windsor Castle, as it was in 2020.
HMS Queen Elizabeth is one of the two largest warships ever built by the Royal Navy, measuring 280 metres long and 70 metres wide, and weighing 65,000 tons. She was constructed at six shipyards across the United Kingdom, before being assembled at Rosyth, Scotland.
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