The Queen has hosted Canada's governor general for afternoon tea, the day after she missed the Commonwealth Day service.

       The monarch, 95, welcomed Mary Simon, her representative in Canada, to Windsor Castle on Tuesday for an official, in-person engagement.

       Her Majesty was pictured in the Oak Room and was dressed in a blue and grey paisley-style patterned dress.

       She stood without her walking stick as she shook hands with Ms Simon and greeted her husband Whit Fraser, the journalist.

       The Queen's absence from the major Commonwealth event at Westminster Abbey on Monday was understood to be due to comfort, rather than a specific illness. The Prince of Wales represented his mother for the annual event.

       The head of state, who reached her Platinum Jubilee last month, has faced a bout of Covid in recent weeks.

       She also spent three months from October conducting only light duties, on doctors’ orders.

       Ms Simon, a former ambassador and lifelong advocate for indigenous people, is Canada's first indigenous governor general. She acts on the monarch's behalf to uphold the country's system of responsible government.

       She took up her post in July, in the wake of a scandal over the nation's long mistreatment of indigenous people.

       Earlier on Tuesday, the Queen received the ambassadors of Mongolia and Tajikistan via video-link at her Berkshire royal residence.

       Enkhsukh Battumur, the Mongolian ambassador, presented his letters of credence as he spoke to the monarch online, in traditional dress.

       The Queen also greeted Rukhshona Emomali, the republic of Tajikistan's diplomat.

       In her message on Commonwealth Day, the monarch said it had made her happy, during her Platinum Jubilee year, to reaffirm the pledge she made in 1947 as a 21-year-old to devote her life to service.