The Queen alluded to mobility problems as she resumed public audiences on Wednesday after a Covid scare.
The monarch met with the incoming Defence Services Secretary Major General Eldon Millar at Windsor Castle, as well as his predecessor Rear Admiral James Macleod.
In a pool clip of the indoor meeting, the general asks how the Queen is feeling, to which she replied: “Well, as you can see, I can’t move”, gesturing to her left leg.
The monarch, who was holding a walking stick, remained stationary in the clip as the pair greeted her.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment, though it is understood the monarch was feeling stiff, rather than being injured or unwell.
The 95-year-old has been increasingly seen holding a walking stick at her engagements in the past year.
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The event is the first in-person engagement for the monarch since a Covid scare, a week after both Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall tested positive for the virus.
Buckingham Palace refused to confirm whether the Queen had also tested positive, only confirming that she had not experienced any Covid symptoms.
The monarch has been getting back to work ahead of June’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, after several months restricted to “light” duties on doctors’ orders following a hospital stay last October.
Next month she is set to attend a diplomatic reception in Windsor on 2 March, a Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey on 14 March, and a service of thanksgiving for the life of the Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey on 29 March.
While details of the monarch’s health concerns including the reason for her recent hospital stay were kept strictly private, the palace suggested did suggest that she missed November’s Remembrance Sunday events having “sprained her back”.
The monarch has repeatedly referenced plans for the future of the monarchy beyond her own reign in the past few months, confirming earlier this month that the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla, would be known as Queen Consort when Prince Charles becomes King – a move that the palace had previously ruled out but that the couple were said to be insistent on.
