THE Queen, in mourning after the death of her sister Princess Margaret, was today resuming royal duties.She was in London's East End - and meeting a TV EastEnder - for her first official engagement since the Princess died on Saturday.
THE Queen, in mourning after the death of her sister Princess Margaret, was today resuming royal duties.
She was in London's East End - and meeting a TV EastEnder - for her first official engagement since the Princess died on Saturday.
Social engagements have been postponed but the Queen has decided to fulfil planned duties while in mourning until the Princess's Windsor funeral on Friday.
On a visit to Whitechapel, east London, she was reopening the Salvation Army's Booth House following an £8 million refurbishment.
The Queen opened the original building in 1968 and was keeping her promise to reopen the flagship residential centre for homeless men.
TV soap star Nicholas Bailey, who plays Dr Anthony Trueman in the BBC's EastEnders and is a supporter of the Salvation Army in the East End, was reading a poem about homelessness written by Poet Laureate Andrew Motion.
The Queen was meeting some of the 150 residents in their rooms and in the Information Technology training suite.
The centre, named after the Salvation Army's founder William Booth, is designed to resettle residents into permanent homes.
It was refurbished with funds from the government Rough Sleepers' Unit, the Corporation of London and the Salvation Army.
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