Queen Elizabeth Makes Special Appearance At London Tube Stop

Queen Elizabeth continued her jovial return to public engagements with a surprise outing to Paddington Station in London on Tuesday.

The 96-year-old sovereign officially opened the Elizabeth line, which had been under construction since 2009 and is named for the monarch. The queen was shown how to use an Oyster card to buy the first ticket on the Underground line, which opens to passengers next week.

Elizabeth, who wore one of her classic monochromatic outfits, was joined at the outing by her youngest son, Prince Edward. He was due to open the line in the event his mother couldn’t attend.

“In a happy development, Her Majesty The Queen is attending today’s event to mark the completion of the Elizabeth line,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement.

“Her Majesty was aware of the engagement and the organisers were informed of the possibility she may attend,” the palace added, according to the BBC .

The palace recently said that the queen “continues to experience episodic mobility problems” in a statement explaining that she would not be attending the state opening of Parliament last week.

Despite her passing along parliamentary duties to Prince Charles to deliver the Queen’s Speech, the queen was able to attend two major events over the weekend. On Friday, the monarch attended the Royal Windsor Horse Show, marking her first public outing in weeks .

Just two days later, Elizabeth was all smiles at an event in honor of her Platinum Jubilee, which celebrates her 70 years on the throne.

The queen has a busy set of engagements to look forward to in the coming weeks, as the monarch will mark her second official birthday celebration  at Trooping the Colour in June.

There is also a host of events lined up for the queen’s official Platinum Jubilee celebrations, which run from June 2 to June 5.