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AFTER WORRIES ABOUT HER DETERIORATING HEALTH, THE QUEEN RETURNED TO PUBLIC LIFE WITH A WINNING SMILE ON HER FACE

- KIRSTY NUTKINS

The Queen gave plenty of reassuring smiles last week during her first public appearance since missing the State Opening of Parliament.

Concerns about the 96-year-old monarch's health grew when it was announced she would not be attending the ceremonial event - the first time she has missed it in six decades, since she was pregnant in 1963- due to "episodic mobility problems".

So it was a relief when Her Majesty, clearly brimming with excitement, arrived at the Royal Windsor Horse Show just a few days later in the passenger seat of a Range Rover.

The Queen, who hasn't been seen in public since attending the memorial service for her late husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, in March, appeared to be in excellent spirits as she laughed and chatted to members of the public through her open car window while they clapped and cheered for her.

She looked typically stylish at the show - one of her favourite events of the year - wearing pink lipstick, pearl earrings and a white blouse, with a dark cardigan and a headscarf.

On her doctor's orders, she initially chose to stay in the car, which pulled up near the parade for a ring-side view of her horses.

Later on, she surprised the crowds by walking slowly, with the aid of a stick, to her seat in the grandstand between her youngest son Prince Edward and Penny Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma. Edward's wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex, was also there to offer support.