As we discussed yesterday, Queen Elizabeth stepped out for her first public engagement (outside of Windsor Castle) of the year. She left the castle for a Commonwealth Air Forces Memorial event. Nearly every headline and article about Liz’s appearance noted that she was maskless for her first public 2021 event. It should also be noted that EVERYONE around Liz was maskless too. The optics were terrible! Even if you note the fact that Liz had her first vaccine dose in January, it’s still bad optics. It’s been bad optics this whole time, especially considering that Liz has only been seen wearing a mask maybe two or three times in the past year?
To go maskless right now, at this moment, was especially bad as Britain marked the year anniversary of the first lockdown last month, and as the country crossed the grim threshold of 120,000 British deaths due to Covid. Every public expert says people should still wear masks and we should be super-cautious about not declaring the pandemic over. So… once again, Buckingham Palace doesn’t have the guts to tell Liz that she needs to wear her damn mask, even if it’s just to encourage mask-wearing for the British public. What the palace will do, however, is run around and tell people (after the fact) that Liz got her second Covid vaccine.
The Queen ‘got her second Covid jab’ before facing the public without a face mask today during her first official engagement after five months in lockdown. The 94-year-old monarch visited the Commonwealth Air Forces Memorial in Runnymede, Surrey, to mark the centenary of the Royal Australian Air Force.
While she has been seen in video calls this year, today is the first time the Monarch has been seen in public since December, when she welcomed the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge back to Windsor after their whistle-stop tour of Britain.
It is reported that she made her appearance, which ties in closely with 12 weeks since she received her first Covid jab, after getting her second dose of the vaccine.
The event was her first in-person official engagement of 2021 – and the first since last October, when she visited the Defence Laboratory at Porton Down alongside her grandson Prince William. It is also the first time she has been seen since Harry and Meghan’s bombshell Oprah interview.
Again, I understand that Liz probably thinks she’s safe, especially now that she’s gotten the second vaccine. But what I don’t understand is why everyone around her went maskless too? And why the near-constant imagery for MORE THAN A YEAR of a 90-something Queen who refuses to wear masks? Yikes. The Windsors have been completely terrible public health role models during the pandemic. I hope people remember that.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
WOW…the selfishness and tone-deafness of it all.
I think she thinks she is projecting strength, but this is a virus. You can’t muscle through this. Helping would be to model appropriate mask wearing.
Interesting the way she projects strength has a lot in common with Trump. There has long been a rumor that the RF simply aren’t very bright and, well, you can kind of see it through the pandemic. Anti-science. Anti-public good. Narcissistic and small minded.
What is a Head of State even for if they can’t set a good example during a crisis?
The other day Washington state reported that 100 people who were fully vaccinated got COVID (as to be expected, as it’s not 100% protection), and out of those, eight were hospitalized (not expected, since it’s supposed to eliminate serious illness). People still need to be careful, especially the elderly and people with underlying conditions. There aren’t enough people vaccinated yet for it to really mean anything. I’m fully vaccinated and plan to keep living almost exactly how I have been with the exception of seeing VERY few people I haven’t been able to see.
There were two post vaccine deaths, both 80+ year olds.
A friend of a friend is currently hospitalized from heart failure they think is related to having COVID last summer. I don’t know for sure but second hand information was that he had a mild case of it. He’s in his 30s.
I know we all want this to just go away but I’m not sure it’s going to especially with so many people not wanting to get the vaccine.
Lunchcoma, I live in WA State found this on th state Health Department website:
Out of one million fully vaccinated individuals in Washington state, epidemiologists report evidence of 102 breakthrough cases since February 1, 2021, which represents .01 percent of vaccinated people in Washington. Breakthrough cases have been identified in 18 counties. The majority of those in Washington state with confirmed vaccine breakthrough experienced only mild symptoms, if any. However, since February 1, eight people with vaccine breakthrough have been hospitalized. DOH is investigating two potential vaccine breakthrough cases where the patients died. Both patients were more than 80 years old and suffered underlying health issues. Further investigation will help to identify patterns among people who have COVID-19 after vaccination, such as if a virus variant may have caused the infection.
And, I think this is why even after we’re vaccinated we still need to be masked and social distanced. It will be interesting to find out if it’s one of the virus variants–I know they’ve been worried about that. So, TQ is really being short sighted about all of this–as are the people around her.
SMH, so MAGA-esque. Also, she’s lost a lot of weight.
Even if she was fully vaccinated she can still transmit the virus. I‘m just surprised how stupid they all are
No wonder the UK is propelling into a fascist state. It’s like watching a clown show getting worse and worse.
You. Still. Need. To. Wear. A. Mask. Even. After. Being. Vaccinated.
I’ve said it a 100 times but royals are ambassadors for the country and therefore should be modelling mask wearing at all times. Even if the rules say no masks outside.
This. 100% this.
As my governor would say, wear your damn mask.
Yes, if she got her second jab and is fully vaccinated, at this point the chances of her getting it or transmitting it are very low. But they’re not a definitive zero. Wear the mask and set a good example. Be like Camilla, who is wearing some very pretty masks lately. Match your mask to your coat. It’s not that hard.
Even if she’s fully vaccinated, she supposed to continue wearing a mask until 70% of the population is vaccinated.
I don’t get it. She not only needs to be wearing a mask, but she has the opportunity to have masks that match her outfits and be even more color coordinated! It would be adorable!
This is so stupid. Every single one of them should be wearing a mask, regardless of vaccination status. And if she refuses, at least all those around her should.
Considering several members of her family got the virus, she is incredibly lucky she didn’t, because at 94 her chances would not have been good.
I’ve had the MMR vaccine, but I ain’t wanna be in a room with someone who has measles, mumps or rubella.
I got my 2nd shot Sat. and I still ain’t getting rid of my masks.
Vaccines can only help so much. People are just selfish. Petty Betty needs new advisors. The gold standard is showing itself to be pyrite.
Not wearing a mask, even after vaccination, says “I don’t care about the people around me” which is an interesting take for a monarch and her family.
The way British people keep saying “jab” makes my entire body cringe.
“Jab scheme” too. Ick.
Lord. Do they ever listen to anyone? I am going to be fully vaccinated next Saturday and I still will wear a mask. Good grief.
Given that we are consistently being told (here in the uk) that after vaccination you should continue mask wearing, distancing, etc. this is a terrible look.
But what else do we expect from them at this point?
Even if she has had her second dose, everyone in the crowd hasnt. Do are they saying who cares who else gets covid as long as The Queen is OK?
The Fail is now using this to criticize Biden for still wearing a mask after vaccination. Le sigh.
Meghan and Harry met Oprah and didn’t wear masks. I know you don’t like the Queen but I think it is unfair to criticise her for this. The UK has never been told to wear masks outdoors.
Eh. I am going to gently push back on your comment. Oprah made it clear that all the crew were wearing masks and the three on camera kept socially distanced, as far as we were shown. Also, people of the UK are forever screeching about how H&M “disrespect” the Queen and her mighty sense of duty. If the Queen actually cared about other people and her sense of duty she would wear a mask as an example. That is what she has always considered herself- an example. It is why she didn’t divorce, why she chooses to pretend nothing happened with Andrew, why she was against Camilla and Charles happening for decades. People also continue to trade on her “service” during the war, as if fixing a few vehicles was some supreme sacrifice. She pitched in during a time of need and has ridden that good will all her life. Why can’t she simply do this for the good of the country? One word: selfishness. A
Meghan and Harry and Oprah were three people, distanced and outside. That’s fair if you as a country haven’t been told to mask up outside, but we in the US have been told to do so if we’re going to be around any large number of people (voting, protests).
Oprah said that everyone around them was double masked and wearing a face shield, and we saw a quick close up of two crew people confirming that. They were outside, and she was sitting at least six feet away from Meghan and Harry the whole time. On top of that, Oprah is over age 65 and for that reason alone very likely has been vaccinated – but still observed social distancing.
Whether or not it’s official policy, we’ve seen Charles and Camilla, and Will and Kate, wear masks at various points, so somehow, somewhere there are people in the UK who consider it a good idea. Nothing to prevent TQ from considering that as well and setting an example.
Niamh, it’s not that I personally dislike an individual I’ve never met, all right? It’s that I disagree with her actions such as protecting her rapist sex trafficker son or abusing her privilege to manipulate politics for personal gain or allowing Meghan to be bullied and tormented by her own family. I ALSO (and I’m a healthcare worker on the front lines of Covid right now) disagree with her not wearing a mask. We are losing lives and the pandemic is not abating. EVERYONE should be masked up and social distancing. And miss me with your whataboutism.
Yup. And it would be one thing if this is the first time TQ has taken off her mask. It is not. The Head of the Monarchy has consistently flouted masking up throughout the pandemic and even insisted on multiple travels with her crew (sorry, staff) in her quest to keep “performing her duties” and “upholding tradition” (the kerfuffle with Christmas and Balmoral come to mind). This is the same argument that people made with Kate’s memorial PR stunt — that it was outside. Outside with multiple people unmasked is not just a bad look, it’s STILL unsafe. You’re a 90 yr old and your son and grandson both got Covid. Set a good freaking example.