Is it really wrong to think

[Blue4YOU]

That the Queen seems to be smiling and laughing more, in public, than when Prince Phillip was alive?
Wish I hadn’t noticed this

Sometimes when someone is very ill the worry about when/how they will die is all consuming when they are finally at peace it can be a kind of relief. But also I think you may be reading too much into few photos.

But also I think you may be reading too much into few photos.

Quite.

Would you rather she be wailing and consumed with grief?

She could be laughing and smiling to try and conceal how devastated she is.

Oh no!! Definitely not wishing she’d be more unhappy..
It just made me think maybe there’s a big relief there.
Probably healthy.
It’s my bad mind that makes me think was she really unhappy being with him.
But .. probably that she’s relieved he’s no longer suffering (no idea why that hadn’t occurred to me 😳)

She might just have decided to drop the stiff upper lip act, life's too short.
Or
She might be happy that her ailing husband is no longer in and out of hospital with endless media speculation about whether he'll make it out this time.
Or
She might actually be the merry widow enjoying some time and space without Prince Phillip traipsing along.

Either way, she's allowed to be happy. In fact I hope she is finding joy in life whether it's for a few moments at a time or permanent state.

I will confess that I thought the very same thing OP. Perhaps the DofE was significantly more unwell then we were led to believe and his death was a merciful release? Equally, she could indeed be putting on a brave face.

She has had a lifetime of 'putting on a face' to the public.

You only had to see her looking for him in a crowd and his wink when she caught his eye to know how much she loved him & him her.

She has great strength of character- don't let her public face fool you

You don’t know her, therefore can’t possibly infer how she feels or anything about her personal life from a few public photos of her doing her job. She’s not going to be looking sullen and miserable is she.

The queen certainly wasn’t unhappy with Phillip they first met when she was 13 and she said he was the man of her dreams

I don’t know .. I just as going off news footage not photos.
I hope either way she is genuinely happy.

We don’t know the Queen despite being led to believe that we do. She ‘acts’ for the public, it’s literally required of her to do so. We will never know how she actually feels about anything tbh.

I can’t imagine noticing let alone caring about something like this. I respect the Queen but I can’t fret about someone of such privilege.

Yes I noticed this too. Very surprised she has come back to her public duties so soon after the Duke's death.

My mum used to say women widowed in later life after many long years of marriage DO thrive and flourish. Probably done pandering to the grumpy old man in their lives

I don't wish to speculate on the queen but hope she is happy for the rest of her days. Especially with her grandson lobbing nasty accusations and her dodgy "favourite" son shut away from public.

I recall a US site claiming a while ago that the D of E had bladder cancer. If true, he will have had a pretty awful time of it, so probably there will be an element of relief that his suffering is over and the constant worry of when he would die has gone. But as PP have said, we don't really ever know what the Queen feels about anything.

As a widow, I just wish people could stop themselves judging widows for what they do when they are lucky enough to have absolutely no idea whatsoever how they might be feeling.