Morning

Every day, 200-300 (and sometimes many more) letters from the public arrive, and are taken to her desk unopened. The Queen chooses a selection to read herself and tells her staff how she would like them to be answered. This enables The Queen to see personally a typical cross-section of her daily correspondence. Virtually every letter is answered by staff in her Private Secretary's office or by a lady-in-waiting. The Queen will then see, separately, two of her Private Secretaries with the daily quota of official paperwork. This process takes upwards of an hour.

Every day of every year, wherever she is, The Queen receives from Government Ministers and from her representatives in the Commonwealth and foreign countries, information in the form of policy papers, Cabinet documents, telegrams, letters, and other State papers. These are sent up to her by the Private Secretaries in the famous 'red boxes'. All of these papers have to be read and, where necessary, approved and signed.

In the mornings, The Queen will often see a number of important people, for example overseas Ambassadors and High Commissioners, newly appointed British Ambassadors, senior members of the Armed Forces on their appointment and retirement, and English bishops and judges on their appointment. Each meeting (known as an Audience) usually lasts 10 to 20 minutes, and usually The Queen and her visitor meet alone.

The Queen may end the morning seeing a number of Government Ministers in a meeting of the Privy Council.

If there is an Investiture, it begins at 11.00 and lasts just over an hour; The Queen usually meets up to 135 people at each Investiture to present Orders, decorations and medals.

The Queen will often lunch privately. Every two months, she and The Duke of Edinburgh will invite a dozen guests from a wide variety of backgrounds to an informal lunch.