Queen Elizabeth II is returning to work after an intense rift within the royal family following Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The reigning 94-year-old monarch participated in a Zoom conference call with experts and students from Thomas Jones Primary School in West London at a virtual event that marked British Science Week, presenting the latest images of the NASA mission to Mars and rockets made by the students .
The queen reminded a group of schoolchildren studying space exploration about the importance of returning to Earth, recalling in a video call about the first man to make the trip – Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
The monarch, who invited Gargarin to Buckingham Palace shortly after his historic flight in 1961, was asked what the pioneer astronaut was like, according to details of the call released by the palace on Friday.
THE ORGANIZATION SAYS THAT SHARING OPRAH INTERVIEW MEMES IS ‘DIGITAL BLACKFACE’
In this undated photo, issued on Friday, March 12, 2021 by Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain speaks to experts and students at Thomas Jones Primary School in West London at a virtual event for mark British Science Week by showcasing the latest NASA mission photos to Mars and classroom rockets made by students.
(Buckingham Palace via AP)
“Russo,” she replied with a smile as her audience laughed. “He didn’t speak English. He was fascinating, and I suppose being the first was particularly fascinating. ”
Space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock, who organized the session, said it must have been scary to be the first man in space and not know what was going to happen.
“Well, yes, and if you could come back,” replied the queen. “This is very important.”
Wednesday’s call with the students came during a difficult week for the queen, after the royal family was shaken by accusations of racism and insensitivity made to them by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR ENTERTANMENT NEWSLETTER
But despite the controversy, the queen moved on with her work, just as she did decades ago. Scientists at the London Science Museum informed her about NASA’s Mars Perseverance mission and discussed the discovery of meteorite fragments earlier this week in England.
This image provided by Harpo Productions shows Prince Harry, from the left, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, talking to Oprah Winfrey.
(Joe Pugliese / Harpo Productions via AP)
The group gave the queen a set of Perseverance rover face masks, sent from NASA headquarters to Windsor Castle. Professor Caroline Smith, of the Natural History Museum, asked that one of the masks be given to Prince Philip, the queen’s husband, because of his long interest in science and space exploration.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION
The 99-year-old prince is recovering in a London hospital after undergoing a cardiac procedure.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.