The Queen is eager to get out on royal duties after months of shielding in defiance of speculation that she may want to cut down on duties after turning 95, it has been reported.
For more than a year, the monarch has been forced to carry out engagements via video-link and cut others out altogether due to the pandemic.
Her usually-brimming diary has rarely been as empty as it was this year, with Windsor Castle plunged into quarantine and the period of mourning for her late husband Prince Philip who died last month.
But a royal insider has said the Queen has a "strong desire" to increase her workload as national lockdown restrictions ease and the vaccine rollout continues.
It comes after Her Majesty attended her first solo public engagement since the duke's death when she stepped on board the flagship carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.
Arriving on the Royal Navy ship by helicopter, she met crew members ahead of their maiden 28-week operational deployment across Asia.
And over the coming weeks, a series of important engagements are set to be announced including a meeting with President Joe Biden and other world leaders before the G7 summit.
A royal insider told the Daily Telegraph: “There is a strong desire from Her Majesty to get back out and about.”
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It comes amid speculation from certain quarters that the Queen may want to cut back on royal duties after turning 95 this year.
The prospect of making Prince Charles regent as she increases her downtime had even been raised in some circles, it is claimed.
But the monarch is known for her love of public service and the rumours appear to be far from her plans for the future.
On her 21st birthday in 1947, she famously said: “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”
