Following hospitalisation for an unknown reason last week, Her Majesty The Queen appeared well and in good spirits during a virtual audience this week.
The 95-year-old monarch granted the audience to the 2020 winner of The Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry, David Constantine. During the audience, Constantine was officially presented with his medal and was joined at Buckingham Palace by the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, who chairs the Poetry Medal Committee. Her Majesty conducted the Audience from Windsor Castle while wearing a floral dress and pearl necklace.
During the Audience, The Queen told Constantine: “I’m very glad to have the chance to see you if only mechanically this morning.”
Mr Armitage was then seen shaking his fellow poet’s hand as he gave him the award and said, “Very well done, congratulations.”
In good spirits, Her Majesty even joked with Constantine about what he will do with his medal: “I don’t know what you do with it. Do you put it in a cupboard?”
The medal itself was designed by the late Edmund Dulac, who crafted the medal with one side bearing the crowned effigy of The Queen and the other featuring what is called a figure of ‘Truth.’ The figure can be seen emerging from her well and holding her in her right hand the divine flame of inspiration – ‘Beauty is Truth and Truth Beauty.’
Dating back to 1933 during the reign of King George V, the Gold Medal for Poetry is awarded for excellence in poetry. In this particular case, Constatine received his medal based on his eleven books of poetry – specifically, his Collected Poems, which was published in 2004 and spans three decades of work.
The audience comes days after Buckingham Palace announced The Queen would not be attending the Cop26 Climate Conference in Glasgow. The announcement followed her hospitalisation that once again sparked headlines. In response, the Palace said the decision was made as a precautionary measure on her doctor’s advice. The Queen still plans to participate in the conference by sending a video message. The Palace said the hospitalisation was not related to the global health crisis.
