Queen to attend Cabinet meeting

Dec 17 2012

The Queen will attend Cabinet in Downing Street on Tuesday as an observer, Number 10 said.

Officials said she will also be presented with a gift, funded by contributions made by each Secretary of State, to mark her Diamond Jubilee.

The Queen will become the first monarch to attend the weekly briefing since Queen Victoria and is expected to sit next to the Prime Minister during the 90-minute meeting.

Downing Street would not disclose details about the gift the Queen will be presented with during the "long-planned" visit.

The Prime Minister's spokesman said: "The Queen will be visiting Downing Street and she will be presented with a gift from the Cabinet to mark her Diamond Jubilee year and she will then attend Cabinet as an observer."

He added: "I think she will sit round the table and I think she will sit alongside the Prime Minister."