Buckingham Palace, the London home of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, has held its first event in six months since the start of the pandemic by hosting Ukraine’s president and first lady.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge welcomed Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his wife Olena in a brief, socially distanced, meeting at the palace’s Throne Room on Wednesday, on behalf of the queen.
Neither couple wore masks nor shake hands, and they observed a mandatory distance while conversing from two ornate couches.
Buckingham Palace, which is both the Queen’s central London residence and the monarchy’s administrative hub, has not been used for a royal event since March when the UK’s COVID-19 lockdown came into effect.
Its State Rooms are usually open to the public during the summer, but they have remained closed along with other royal attractions.
Zelenskiy and his wife are on a two-day visit and are expected to meet Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab later.
euronews.com
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