Queen holds first 'live' audience with UK PM Boris Johnson since COVID-19 pandemic began

Queen Elizabeth II on June 23 hosted UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson at Buckingham Palace in London for their first weekly in-person audience since the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the nation. The 95-year-old British monarch has received UK prime Ministers for weekly audiences throughout her reign and she has reportedly kept in touch with Johnson by phone since March 2020 when the first coronavirus lockdown measures were imposed. Queen also spoke with the UK Prime Minister when the Group of Seven (G7) leaders met in Cornwall in southwest England earlier this month. 

However, the return to a traditional face-to-face meeting between Queen and the UK PM took place at the monarch’s official residence in central London. When the COVID-19 pandemic began last year, the Queen along with her husband, Prince Philip retreated to Windsor Castle. In the wake of the global health crisis, the royal household even dubbed the social distancing arrangement to protect the older royals as ‘HMS Bubble.’ Several media reports have stated that following the death of Prince Philip, Queen will now spend most of her time at Berkshire residence. 

First in-person presentation of investiture

Further, the first in-person presentation of investiture also took place at St. James’ Palace on Thursday when the first group of 32 awardees were honoured. The Royal Family has explained in a statement that an “Investiture is the very special day when someone who has been awarded an honour receives their award in person from The Queen or a Member of the Royal Family. The investee visits a Royal residence, usually Buckingham Palace, with members of their family, to receive their insignia.”

Even though this year there was no audience, the 32 participants wore face coverings and the awardees were limited to one guest each. The return to relative normalcy after more than a year-long COVID-19 pandemic came even as the UK continues to record a surge in coronavirus infections driven by the Delta variant of the novel virus. Just on Wednesday, the British government statistics revealed that more than 16,000 COVID-19 cases were registered in the last 24 hours which was nearly 5,000 more than Tuesday.

IMAGE: @RoyalFamily/Twitter