Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, resumed her official duties on Tuesday with a private ceremony at Sandringham, her personal estate in Norfolk, England, Reuters reported Wednesday.
Tuesday’s ceremony honored Raymond Wheaton with “the insignia of a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order, an honor that usually rewards personal service to her or the monarchy,” according to Reuters.
The news wire noted that no pictures were available of the ceremony.
The 90-year-old sovereign, who ascended to the throne upon her father’s death 65 years ago this February, reportedly has been fighting a cold since before Christmas, an ailment which forced her to miss worship services on Christmas and New Year’s Day.
The queen’s poor health and advanced age is raising concern among Britons and giving news outlets occasion to explain the pomp and pageantry that are entailed in royal funerals, the most recent of which was for Elizabeth’s mother, the Queen Mother, who died in March 2002 at the age of 101.
Some 200,000 mourners reportedly filed through Westminster Hall to pay their respects to the queen mother when she laid in state.
For its part, the British tabloid newspaper The Express went into great detail on Wednesday with the ceremonial and political implications of a monarch’s passing, from the recognition of the heir apparent as the new monarch to the national mourning customs to the minting of new coins and postage stamps in the new monarch’s likeness.
• Ken Shepherd can be reached at kshepherd@washingtontimes.com.
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