UK's Queen Elizabeth has first outing in five months

Vaccinated British monarch, 94, doesn't wear mask to military service

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II looks on during a service to mark the Centenary of the Royal Australian Air Force at the CWGC Air Forces Memorial, Runnymede in Surrey on March 31, 2021. AFP

Queen Elizabeth II made her first public appearance outside the walls of Windsor Castle in nearly five months on Wednesday, making a quip about the country's frosty relationship with Russia.

The monarch, 94, has been staying home because of the coronavirus pandemic, but ventured out for a military service in south-east England.

The maskless monarch said she was "delighted" to be out on engagements again, and shared a joke with an officer from the Royal Australian Air Force.

She asked him if the jets he worked with were "being sent off to chase the Russians?".

The British Air Force has, in recent months, intercepted an increasing number of Russian aircraft approaching UK airspace after increasing tension between Moscow and London.

Wednesday's outing was the queen's fourth engagement outside palace walls since Britain first locked down a year ago, and the first since she visited Westminster Abbey in November.

The monarch and her husband Philip, 99, received their first dose of the Covid vaccine in January.

Buckingham Palace did not publicise the royal couple's second vaccine dose, which is typically given in Britain 12 weeks after the first.