Queen Elizabeth II receives Scott Morrison at Windsor Castle

London: Scott Morrison has told a beaming Queen that she was quite the hit at the G7 summit Britain hosted in Cornwall on the weekend.

Images of the Queen cutting a cake for volunteers during the weekend’s events with a ceremonial sword instead of a knife prompted laughter from Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, who were watching on.

The Prime Minister appeared to refer to the hilarity when he ended his UK tour with a trip to Windsor Castle to visit the Queen.

“So you were down there but I didn’t see you, in Cornwall,” she said, smiling warmly.

The prime minister told the Queen that Australia, which is not a member of the G7, was invited as an extension partner to the talks.

“You were quite the hit, everyone was talking about you at dinner the next night,” he told the monarch.

“Oh Lord, were they really?” the Queen responded, as she looked down at the floor.

“They were, they were thrilled to see you,” Mr Morrison said.

Her Majesty received the Australian Prime Minister on Tuesday morning local-time in the Oak Room of Windsor Castle, where she has been staying during the pandemic.

Mr Morrison was scheduled to arrive at 11am, and around 45 minutes later Buckingham Palace issued a short statement.

“The Queen today received The Hon. Scott Morrison MP (Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia) in Audience at Windsor Castle,” the statement said.

Photographs of the pair show the Queen smiling warmly. She wore a bright yellow dress with a blue floral pattern and pearls; Mr Morrison was dressed in a suit and light blue tie.

Mr Morrison said afterwards that he was honoured to have an audience with the Queen.

“We had a good conversation and I was able to pass on in person Australia’s condolences on the recent loss of Prince Philip,” he said in a tweet.

The details of what else was discussed are not known because conversations with the Queen are supposed to be kept strictly confidential to avoid compromising her political neutrality.

But on the weekend US President Joe Biden provided a rare insight when he revealed that during his 45-minute audience, the monarch inquired about Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin.

The pair, who have both been vaccinated against COVID-19, were photographed standing close to each other.

It is the second time Mr Morrison has met the monarch. In 2019, he and his wife Jenny visited Buckingham Palace and presented her with a book about racehorse Winx. The Queen is an avid horseracing enthusiast.

Mr Morrison made the trip to Windsor, near Heathrow, straight after leaving Downing Street where he and his British counterpart Boris Johnson announced a new free trade deal that will allow younger people to live and work in each other’s countries.

He is now on his prime ministerial jet to Paris where he will meet French President Emmanuel Macron.

Source: smh.com.au