The Queen's Speech: Monarch attends first major public engagement since the death of Prince Philip

Queen Elizabeth II carried out her first major public engagement since her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, died last month. The queen attended the State Opening of Parliament on Tuesday, which was scaled back due to the pandemic, to give the Queen's Speech, a significant address that sets out what laws the government wants to pass. 

The Queen's Speech usually happens once a year, typically in the spring or after an election, as part of the State Opening of Parliament ceremony, according to BBC News. However, the last Queen's Speech took place in December 2019, two weeks after Boris Johnson was elected. The speech signified Johnson could set out his agenda for the next session of parliament, which ended in April 2021. Tuesday's speech was the queen's first engagement outside Windsor Castle since the death of her husband. She usually arrives in a carriage with a long procession. This time, she arrived in a Bentley limousine with 74 people, including herself, in the chamber as she read her speech from the throne in the House of Lords.