Queen steps out in fourth public appearance in four days
The Queen has appeared in public for the fourth day in a row, this time with Prince Charles in tow, despite a cash scandal surrounding the heir to the throne.
Royals
Don't miss out on the headlines from Royals. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A triumphant return of the Queen to official duties, with four public appearances in four days, was marred by lingering questions over her son’s financial dealings with Qatar.
While the Queen appeared in public just twice during her four-day Jubilee celebrations due to “discomfort”, the monarch has spent each day of her Scotland tour representing the royal family as the country’s First Minister seeks to break away from the United Kingdom.
Prince Charles, who paid tribute to his “mummy” during Jubilee celebrations, joined her on day four amid sustained scrutiny over $4.4 million in cash donations from a former Qatari prime minister between 2011 and 2015.
The future King personally accepted donations for his charity, the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund (PWCF), in three payments packed into suitcases and bags, according to The Sunday Times.
A royal source said there would never again be such a cash transfer, given by Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, who was prime minister of Qatar from 2007 to 2013.
“That was then. This is now,” the source told the Times. “It was passed immediately to his charity and it was his charity who decided to accept the money.”
Charles has not commented on the payments, but joined the Queen in scotland at the Queen’s Body Guard for Scotland Reddendo Parade in the gardens of the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
More than 300 officers and archers from the Queen’s Body Guard for Scotland took part in the Reddendo parade with the event being the largest gathering of the Sovereign’s Body Guard in history with 25 officers and 298 Archers expected to be on parade.
The Royal Company of Archers acts as the Sovereign’s ceremonial Body Guard for Scotland -- a role first created in 1822 during a visit to Scotland by King George IV.
Charles inspected the royal company with the parade Commander, and the Queen was presented with a Reddendo, a present from the officers and archers to mark the Bicentenary of the Queen’s Body Guard for Scotland.
QUEEN CONFRONTS SCOTTISH LEADER
A bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label stood between Queen Elizabeth II and Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon as the pair came face-to-face or the first time since renewed calls for independence.
The pair met at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh a day after the Scottish leader set the country on a collision course with the United Kingdom by announcing a referendum during the Queen’s Royal tour.
While no details of the conversation were released, footage from the encounter showed Sturgeon present the 96-year-old a $265 bottle of top-shelf whisky.
Before the meeting, Sturgeon said she was doing the “responsible thing” by calling a new referendum just eight years after the previous “once in a generation” vote.
“I respect the rule of law, which is why we are taking the path I set out yesterday – that’s the responsible thing to do,” she told Sky News when it was put to her that calling a referendum is not the prerogative of a devolved government.
“The people of Scotland must have the right to choose.”
Sturgeon set a date of 19 October 2023 for a “consultative referendum” on the second day of the Royal tour of Scotland.
As the Queen stepped out for her third consecutive day, her first public duties since the Platinum Jubilee, she appeared in good health and without a walking stick.
As Sturgeon conceded her administration may lack the power to call the vote, the proclamation is largely symbolic without approval from London.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s UK government says the 2014 plebiscite settled the matter for a generation.
Speaking en route from Germany to a NATO summit in Spain, Johnson vowed to study Sturgeon’s plan and “respond properly”.
Sturgeon said independence was back on the agenda after the majority of Britain voted to leave the European Union, which was largely opposed in Scotland.
She said it would only go ahead if the UK Supreme Court rules the Scottish government has the power to hold the vote without London’s consent.
A vote in favour of independence would still need approval from both parliaments in Edinburgh and London before Scotland could formally break away.
The Queen’s visit to Scotland during the announcement of a potential independence referendum echoes her 2014 visit to Balmoral estate on the eve of the previous referendum.
“I hope people think very carefully about the future,” she said before Scotland voted by 55 per cent to 45 per cent to remain in the UK.
Earlier this week, The Queen stepped out to an Armed Forces Act of Loyalty Parade at the Palace of Holyroodhouse- just across the road from the Scottish Parliament Building in Edinburgh where Sturgeon announced the plan to breakaway from the monarchy.
It came a day after the Queen took part in a ceremony in Edinburgh alongside youngest son, Prince Edward and his wife Sophie, despite continued questions over her health and mobility issues.
While she was seen recently in official duties at Windsor without the help of a cane, her travel north for a week of royal events saw a return of the walking stick.
Wearing a powder blue silk wool coat and dress, with a matching hat, it was the first of several engagements she hopes to attend, including a meeting with Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon.
It was her first venture outside her Royal estates since she made an appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to mark the end of Jubilee celebrations on June 5.
It came after she defied doctors to get back in the saddle of her horses nine months after she was ordered to stop riding, according to The Sun.
“The Queen had missed her riding over these nine months,” a palace source told the outlet.
“She had been able to whiz around the castle’s Quadrangle in her golf buggy to walk her corgis.
“Riding again is a wonderful sign after all those worries we had about her health.
“To be able to do so at 96 is pretty remarkable.”
In Scotland, the Queen took part in the Ceremony of the Keys, which sees her handed the keys of the city and welcomed to her “ancient and hereditary kingdom” of Scotland.
As part of the tradition, the monarch returns the keys to the safekeeping to the city’s elected officials.
A Guard of Honour was provided by the Balaklava Company, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
Prince Charles — called the Earl of Rothesay in Scotland — and Princess Anne, are also in Scotland this week.
The monarch’s disgraced second son, Prince Andrew — the Earl of Inverness north of the border — was not involved at the event at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
The Queen had previously held audiences at Windsor Castle with foreign diplomats and the Archbishop of Canterbury but had not been certain to travel to Edinburgh.
In May, royal officials said the queen would not attend this summer’s royal garden parties at Buckingham Palace and at Holyrood.
She spent an unscheduled night in hospital last October, forcing her to cancel a series of public engagements.
She has since complained of difficulties walking and standing, and has increasingly been seen using a stick for support.
– with AFP
More Coverage
Originally published as Queen steps out in fourth public appearance in four days
Kate ‘threw hands up in disgust’ over Harry
After attempting to help Prince William and Prince Harry reconcile over the years, a new report reveals the moment Kate Middleton conceded it was futile.
Read more
Prince William reveals one thing royal kids fight over
Prince William has spilt on the one issue that causes chaos at home between his children, as an insider shed light on the future king’s sweet nightly ritual with Princess Catherine.
Read more