Queen Elizabeth II attends christenings following health fears

Queen Elizabeth II attended the christenings of her latest two great-grandsons on Sunday, her second appearance in less than a week that follows several cancelled engagements over the last month for health reasons.

The 95-year-old monarch was pictured in a lime green jacket and hat seated inside a Range Rover as she came and went from the double royal christening at All Saints Chapel in Windsor, southwest of London.

It comes days after she held a face-to-face audience Wednesday with Britain's highest-ranking military officer, a first public appearance in weeks following a string of health setbacks.

The queen did not attend the annual Remembrance Sunday event honoring Britain's war dead the prior weekend, due to a "sprained back" -- the latest in a string of events she had been forced to miss.

She first pulled out of a planned two-day trip to Northern Ireland last month, after the palace revealed she had been advised to rest on medical grounds.

But within 24 hours, royal officials were forced to confirm a newspaper report that she had spent the night at a private hospital in central London after unspecified tests.

Aides insisted the overnight stay was for "practical reasons" and she had resumed "light duties", including holding video calls with incoming ambassadors.

But speculation about her health renewed when she withdrew from a planned appearance at the UN climate change summit in Glasgow, Scotland, earlier this month.

Again, it followed "advice to rest" from doctors. She sent a video message to world leaders, urging them to take collective action to halt runaway global warming.

Her eldest son and heir, Prince Charles, 73, attended the event in her absence and is currently representing her on an overseas visit to Jordan and Egypt.

Palace officials have blamed the the need for an enforced rest on the queen's hectic schedule since she returned from her annual summer holiday to her Balmoral estate in northeast Scotland.

She has kept up her public engagements since the death of her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, in April, including hosting G7 leaders at a summit in Cornwall in June.

Sunday's christenings were of the newly-born son of Mike and Zara Tindall -- Princess Anne's daughter -- and the son of Princess Eugenie -- Prince Andrew's daughter -- and her husband Jack Brooksbank.

Immediate members of the royal family and close friends joined together for the private service, according to Buckingham Palace sources.

© 2021 AFP