VENTURING OUT AGAIN
The Queen during a visit to the Air Forces Memorial in Runnymede, Surrey, to attend a service. The event was only the fourth Royal engagement the Queen has attended beyond the walls of Windsor Castle since the pandemic began.
THE QUEEN marked the centenary of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during an open-air service honouring the Commonwealth country’s airmen and women.
The event was the head of state’s first public engagement outside Windsor Castle this year and was held at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Air Forces Memorial in Runnymede, Surrey.
More than 350,000 men and women have served in the RAAF since its formation in 1921, fighting in conflicts ranging from the Second World War to others in Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan and Iraq, with more than 11,100 losing their lives in service.
The Duke of Cambridge also marked the centenary with a video message that reflects on the service, courage and sacrifice made by generations of Royal
Australian Air Force men and women.
The message was played at the RAAF centenary dinner being held in the Australian capital Canberra with guests featuring the country’s prime minister Scott Morrison and the governorgeneral, retired General David
Hurley, who is the Queen’s representative.
Since the pandemic began the Queen has carried out a handful of official events beyond the walls of Windsor Castle.
She was last seen outside her Berkshire residence in November during the annual
Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph and, a few days before that, wore a face mask in public for the first time during a poignant visit to the grave of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey to mark the centenary of his burial.
A few weeks earlier she was joined by her grandson the Duke of Cambridge when she visited the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Porton Down in Wiltshire and formally opened the Energetics Analysis Centre.
The Queen has been carrying out her duties via video call.