Queen Elizabeth II joined Princess Anne to officially open a new hospice facility run by the charity Thames Hospice on July 15. The palace published a short clip on Instagram showing the Queen and her daughter during the opening. The visit came as a surprise as it had not previously been officially announced.
For more than 35 years, the organization in Windsor and Maidenhead has been taking care of terminally ill, incurable people and their families. Thames Hospice offers free help to anyone who needs it. As reported by the British BBC, the Queen traveled from Windsor Castle to Maidenhead to meet local staff, helpers and patients, among others.
A "very emotional" encounter
According to the report, the Queen met a patient who is in short-term care for cancer and her husband, among others. When they were introduced, the man's phone rang. "Typical, the phone rings immediately," Queen Elizabeth II took the situation with humor. She could have "killed" her husband for it, the sick woman explained later and described the meeting as "very emotional".
According to Thames Hospice, this is the Queen's fourth visit to one of the organisation's establishments. The Queen opened the original center in November 1987.
It was only at the end of June that Duchess Kate and Prince William visited a children's hospice run by East Anglia's Children's Hospices in Milton. The organization takes care of children and young people and their families. The Duchess has been Patron since 2012 and supports the work of EACH in the Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk regions.
