Queen attends first ever cabinet meet | Oman Observer - Oman Daily Observer

LONDON — Britain's Queen Elizabeth II attended her first-ever cabinet meeting yesterday to mark her diamond jubilee, the only monarch to do so since 1781. Wearing a royal blue coat and dress, the 86-year-old sovereign was greeted by Prime Minister David Cameron outside the door of his official residence, 10 Downing Street.
The queen received a diamond jubilee gift of 60 placemats from the cabinet to mark her 60 years on the throne and spent half an hour at the meeting as an observer, officials said. Cameron said it was the first time a monarch had visited a cabinet meeting since king George III in 1781.
The prime minister offered Queen Elizabeth a "very warm welcome" after she took her seat in the middle of the cabinet table, with Cameron to her right and Foreign Secretary William Hague to her left.
"On behalf of everyone, I would like to congratulate you on a fantastic jubilee year," Cameron told her. Historically, British monarchs used to chair cabinet meetings but while Queen Elizabeth remains head of state her role is largely formal and the monarchy has to remain strictly neutral in political affairs.
Queen Elizabeth has been to Downing Street on numerous occasions during her reign, most recently in July for a diamond jubilee lunch hosted by Cameron and attended by former prime ministers Gordon Brown, Tony Blair and John Major.
Twelve British premiers, the first being Winston Churchill, have served during her 60-year reign but she has never attended a cabinet meeting, where secretaries of state discuss the big issues of the day.
The queen arrived in a limousine with police motorcycle outriders and posed with Cameron in front of the famous black door of 10 Downing Street, next to the prime minister's official Christmas tree.
Several political commentators noted that her Stewart Parvin royal blue wool dress and matching coat — which she wore with a sapphire and diamond broach — was almost identical to the colour frequently worn by former prime minister Margaret Thatcher. — AFP