QUEEN OF NATURE
Green-fingered Queen plants a tree to mark Platinum Jubilee as she gets to work with Charles after summer break
THE green-fingered Queen planted a tree to mark her Platinum Jubilee as she got to work with Prince Charles after her summer break.
The Monarch was joined by her son and heir at Balmoral for one of the few public engagements she has carried out after the death of her "strength and stay" Prince Philip this year.
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The Queen and her son planted a tree at the Balmoral Cricket Pavilion to mark the start of the official planting season at the 50,000-acre Scottish estate.
The 95-year-old Monarch beamed in her aptly-chosen dark green ensemble as she met children from nearby Crathie Primary School.
It marks her first public appearance since beginning her annual summer holiday at Balmoral on July 23.
The Queen and Charles - known as the Duke of Rothesay in Scotland - poured soil into the pit of the copper beech sapling.
The Prince of Wales quipped: "Let's hope it will survive."
Pupils from the school have undertaken nature projects as part of the Queen's Green Canopy initiative, and were exploring woods in the Balmoral grounds on Friday.
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Next year, the Queen will become the first British monarch to celebrate the jubilee milestone, having acceded to the throne on February 6, 1952, aged 25.
The Queen's Green Canopy (QGC) aims to "create a lasting legacy" to the Queen by urging people to start their own tree-planting projects across the UK with the call to action: "Plant a tree for the jubilee."
The scheme encourages planting to take place between October and March, to optimise the chance of trees surviving and flourishing.
The children presented the queen with a hand-made card to mark the end of her traditional summer break at her beloved Scottish residence.
The monarch thanked them for the "very kind" gesture after being presented with the card by Annie Hutchin, aged "six and a half", and Skye Jones, nine.
Annie said afterwards: "She asked how we made it and said we did a lovely job."
Some pupils were wearing crowns made of twigs and leaves, prompting the Queen to say: "They don't look very comfortable, they're like a bird's nest."
It comes amid a tumultuous time for the Queen, with her second son Prince Andrew facing sex assault allegations and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle taking savage swipes at the Firm from across the pond.
The Duke of York had been hiding out in the Queen's Balmoral estate to avoid US lawyers trying to serve sex abuse lawsuit papers on him.
But the brazen prince was seen leaving yesterday, after ending his three-weeks in hiding over the border.
On Friday, lawyers officially conceded that the legal papers relating to Virginia Roberts' sex assault claims have been served to the duke's legal team.
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Virginia - a victim of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein - is attempting to sue the Duke in a New York court after alleging she was forced to have sex with him three times when she was 17.
Andrew has always vehemently denied the claims.
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