On Wednesday, Queen Elizabeth, newly widowed and officially still in mourning, will be 95 years old.
Little fanfare is expected. Since her husband, Prince Philip, died on April 9, the Queen has entered a period of silence. Britain has heard nothing of the longest-serving monarch, but has only seen her, most recently masked, and sat alone when her husband’s coffin was lowered into the royal vault at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.
Yet during that period she continued to do what she did as a monarch for nearly seven decades: work.
Four days after Prince Philip’s death, the Queen attended a retirement ceremony for a royal courtier who had been instrumental in planning her husband’s funeral. She later received a call from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The monarch, unlike Queen Victoria, who disappeared from public view several years after her consort died in 1861, will continue her long public service record, palace officials say.