Queen Elizabeth pays tribute to murdered soldier

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth paid tribute to murdered soldier Lee Rigby today (31.05.13).

The 87-year-old monarch visited Woolwich Barracks, south east England – close to the scene where he was tragically hacked to death earlier this month – where she was greeted by commanding officer of the King’s Troop Major Mark Edward and a rare mounted guard of honor.

The queen did not acknowledge the killing – which occurred in broad daylight – publicly by stopping to take in the floral tributes to the 25-year-old drummer, but the royal is to mark the shocking event in private instead.

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: ”This is a longstanding engagement that has been in the diary for some time.

”Obviously, we were keen that it should go ahead as planned but given last week’s events, we wanted to do something to mark them privately.”

During the visit to the military base, the monarch met the families of the 169 servicemen and women in the King’s Troop, the Army’s smallest regiment, of which women make up a third of the personnel.

Following Lee’s tragic killing last week, the queen was said to be ”concerned” but had vowed to keep her planned visit to Woolwich in the diary for today.