Queen Elizabeth Attends Church For The First Time In 18 Months

Oct 12, 2021 by apost team

The pandemic has been a major period of change for everyone in the world and royals are no exception. As well as changing how the royals do their job — with many official engagements going digital during this period — the pandemic also affected how the royals were able to go about their private lives too. 

One such example was Princess Beatrice's small wedding in June last year to Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, which was pushed back from its original date in May due to the pandemic. Taking government restrictions into account for a new smaller affair, the intimate ceremony was attended by only 20 or so close friends and family members, including Beatrice's grandparents, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, as well as her parents, Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew, who walked his daughter down the aisle. 

Another example of how the royals' private lives were also affected was the queen's regular church visits, which were halted at the onset of the pandemic. A committed Christian, Queen Elizabeth is also the head of the Church of England. But instead of attending services publicly as she usually did, the queen worshipped privately for a while, with Buckingham Palace indicating that she wouldn't be seen traveling to church in a bid to dissuade crowds from gathering as the situation in the UK continued to be dire. 

Now, after 18 months since she attended her last public church service, the queen was photographed attending a service at the Royal Chapel of All Saints, which is on the grounds of the Royal Lodge in Windsor, last Sunday. In fact, the chapel is the same one that Princess Beatrice held her nuptials at last year.

On Sunday, the queen was dressed in a stylish autumnal ensemble as she attended her first public church service in 18 months. Donning a plum-colored coat and a matching hat with velvet trim as well as a floral detail, the monarch accessorized with a pearl necklace and earrings and finished the color palette off with a deep pink lipstick.

On a bittersweet note, the last time she was photographed at the Royal Chapel of All Saints was for Princess Beatrice's wedding in summer last year. In the photos, she stands alongside her late husband Prince Philip while her granddaughter and her new husband are standing at a safe distance from them. The photos are joyous and show how special the moment was for all involved. Last year, a source told People magazine about the wedding ceremony:

"The queen was the guest of honor, and it was very important that she was there. It was planned for some time, and everyone had to be extremely cautious leading up to the big day because the queen was in attendance. They had to make sure everyone who was attending was in perfect health."

A lot has changed since then, both in the world and for the queen personally, but to see her back attending church as she once did is perhaps a sign that things are beginning to return to the way they once were. 

The monarch also arrived back at Windsor Castle earlier this month after a two-month stay at Balmoral, her Scottish estate and summer residence.

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Now that things are slowly opening up once again, it seems autumn will be busy for Queen Elizabeth, as she has a number of upcoming royal engagements that will take place in person instead of digitally. The Telegraph is calling it the "busiest autumn since her Diamond Jubilee a decade ago." 

Just last week she carried out her first major engagement at Buckingham Palace since the pandemic began. Together with her youngest son, Prince Edward, the duo launched the Queen's Baton Relay in a special ceremony that took place on the forecourt of the palace, ahead of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Then on Wednesday of last week, she also welcomed the Royal Regiment of the Canadian Artillery to her home in Berkshire. 

Today she will be accompanied by her daughter, Princess Anne, at a Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey, with the event marking the Centenary of the Royal British Legion. Then this coming Thursday, the queen will be joined by her eldest son, Prince Charles, and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall in Cardiff, to celebrate the opening ceremony of the Sixth Session of the Senedd.

In November, the monarch, along with Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will travel to Glasgow to attend the COP26 — the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference.

The queen will certainly be busy in the next few weeks and months and it's likely we'll continue to see her attending more church services too, now that she's begun to do so once again. 

What do you think about Queen Elizabeth beginning to attend public church services for the first time in 18 months? Let us know your thoughts and pass this on to any royal fans you know so they can stay up to date.