Queen Elizabeth Is All Smiles as She Holds Virtual Meetings from Windsor Castle

Stephanie Petit
·2 min read
3
Queen Elizabeth II, in residence at Windsor Castle
Queen Elizabeth II, in residence at Windsor Castle
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Yui Mok - Pool/Getty

Queen Elizabeth is back on the screen.

Just one day after appearing alongside Prince Charles to present the George Cross to representatives of the National Health Service from the four countries that make up the U.K., the 96-year-old monarch held two virtual audiences.

High Commissioner for the Kingdom of Eswatini Thandazile Mbuyisa and High Commissioner for the Co-operative Republic of Guyana Dr. Rajendra Singh were at Buckingham Palace, where they chatted with the Queen, who is in residence at Windsor Castle — about 20 miles away from London.

The Queen was all smiles for the meetings, sporting a floral pattern dress and a single-strand pearl necklace.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II

YUI MOK/POOL/AFP via Getty Thandazile Mbuyisa and Queen Elizabeth

However, the British royal family's official Twitter account had to delete and retweet their post about the meetings after mistakenly saying they were with incoming ambassadors rather than high commissioners. Both are both types of heads of a country's diplomatic mission, although an ambassador is the representative of one country in another country while a high commissioner is the head of state in another country.

Queen Elizabeth
Queen Elizabeth

YUI MOK/POOL/AFP via Getty Shakuntala Singh, Dr. Rajendra Singh and Queen Elizabeth

On Tuesday, the Queen welcomed frontline workers and representatives of the National Health Service to Windsor Castle, where they received the George Cross to honor their service during the coronavirus pandemic.

The George Cross was instituted by King George VI in September 1940 during the height of the Blitz to recognize "acts of the greatest heroism or the most courage in circumstances of extreme danger." It is the highest civilian order that can be bestowed by the monarch.

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Queen Elizabeth II (5L) and Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (5R) pose with (back row LtoR) Peter May, Permanent Secretary at Britain's Department of Health, Amanda Pritchard, Chief Executive NHS England, Caroline Lamb, Chief Executive NHS Scotland, and Judith Paget, Chief Executive NHS Wales as (front row LtoR) Sister Joanna Hogg, Royal Victoria Hospital Emergency Department, May Parsons, Modern Matron at University Hospital Coventry and Warkwickshire, Eleanor Grant, Palliative Care Nurse, Specialist University Hospital Wishaw, NHS Lanarkshire, and Dr Ami Jones, Intensive Care Consultant, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board sit with George Cross medals awarded to Britian's National Health Service (NHS) Audience at Windsor Castle

AARON CHOWN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles

Although members of the royal family have hosted investiture ceremonies on behalf of the Queen, the monarch herself has not personally handed out honors since 2020, when she knighted Captain Sir Thomas Moore for raising more than $40 million for the U.K.'s National Health Service (NHS) amid the coronavirus lockdown by walking 100 laps in his backyard garden.