She has been thwarted first by a pandemic, then by the gradual reality of working under Covid restrictions, and recently by mobility concerns. But when it came to honouring one of Britain’s leading Royal Warrant Holders, nothing was going to stand in the Queen’s way.

       So keen was she to help Staffordshire craftsmen and women celebrate the Platinum Jubilee in style, she invited them to stage an exhibition in her own drawing room.

       Wearing her half-moon glasses to inspect a range of hand-decorated teapots and antique enamelled trinket boxes, the Queen once again defied expectation to find a creative new way to keep performing her duties.

       The Queen smiled broadly as she peered at luxury pieces by British firm Halcyon Days, which is held in such high esteem by her family it has three Royal Warrants.

       She also watched a demonstration of traditional enamelling and gilding by hand by master artisans, who use techniques that have been handed down for generations.

       The Queen had been due to visit the Halcyon Days factory in Staffordshire in 2020 to mark its own Platinum Jubilee of 70 years, but plans were put on hold when the pandemic struck.

       Much has changed since the outbreak of Covid-19, with the Queen, who will be 96 next month, now using a walking stick to help with mobility problems, and usually carrying out only light duties at Windsor Castle.

       The extended audience on Wednesday was a rethinking of the original engagement, with the factory's work and skills being brought to the Queen in the comfort of her own home instead.

       The event was captured on camera by one photographer, with images shared with the watching world.

       Dressed for spring in a silk floral day dress and wearing her favourite three-string pearl necklace, the Queen was said to be in her element despite moving a little less deftly than she once could.

       She used a sturdy wooden walking stick, smiling broadly as she was shown the presentation and picking up some of the tiny enamelled boxes to inspect them.

       The intricately decorated cups and saucers were laid out on a white linen-covered table in the White Drawing Room.

       Among the items was a selection of the earliest designs, created after the company was founded 1950 just two years before the start of the Queen's reign.

       Queen Mother was a dedicated fan of the crafts

       Taking a closer look at the antique pieces, the Queen held a small oval trinket box with a red base, decorated with a black and white painting of Windsor Castle where the monarch currently lives.

       She also picked up a larger rectangular trinket box, edged in lilac, featuring three colour portraits of her late mother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, as a young woman.

       The Queen Mother was a dedicated fan of the firm's creations, and first commissioned an enamel box in 1970 of her London home Clarence House.

       Other members of the royal family soon followed suit, and the Queen Mother went on to issue the company's first Royal Warrant in 1972.

       The Queen also saw Halcyon Days' first ever "year box" - from the Silver Jubilee of 1977 - and viewed new Platinum Jubilee pieces which are dark blue and painted with platinum flowers of the realm.

       She wore a sentimental piece of jewellery in the shape of her Flower Basket brooch: a basket of gem-studded flowers set with diamonds, sapphires, rubies and emeralds, which she was given by her parents in 1948 to mark the birth of her first child, Prince Charles.

       Peter Harper, owner of the firm, and Pamela Harper, chairman and chief executive, talked the Queen through the pieces.

       Master Artisans Susan Shakespeare and Susan Jones gave a demonstration of traditional methods of enamel decoration and gilding by hand, set up on a table as if they were in their own workshop to mimic a more traditional royal visit.

       Princess Alexandra's granddaughter Zenouska Mowatt, who is the company's head of marketing, was also present.

       The company, which has an enamel factory in Wolverhampton and a fine bone china and jewellery factory in Stoke-on-Trent, is one of only 14 firms in the world to hold all three Royal Warrants, by appointment to the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales.

       It is the only supplier of objets d'art to the royal household.

       The event was the Queen's first official face-to-face engagement with a number of people for more than seven weeks since her Platinum Jubilee reception at Sandringham House.

       She has also hosted several in-person audiences.