Queen Elizabeth has been using her late husband Prince Philip's distinctive walking stick.
The 95-year-old monarch gave a subtle tribute to the late Duke of Edinburgh - who died last April aged 99 - when she was invited to cut a cake marking her Platinum Jubilee at a reception for local community and volunteer groups at Sandringham House on Saturday.
Pictures showed the queen pressing a knife part of the way into the cake while clutching the mobility aid - which is taller than a usual walking stick and features a distinctive ornate curved handle carved from horn - in her other hand.
As she stood with the cake, the queen joked: “I think I might just put a knife in it, see if it works. Somebody else can do the rest of it.”
Broadcaster Gyles Brandreth was among those to spot the significance of the walking stick, which Philip used regularly when staying at Sandringham.
He told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: “I recognised the stick instantly as it was always kept in a pot by the front door. It was the Duke’s stick, and it is very touching that the Queen has started using it.”
Philip was last photographed using the stick when he visited the muddy nearby nature reserve Dersingham Bog shortly after undergoing abdominal surgery in 2013.
Last October, the queen used a walking stick in public for the first time since she needed a mobility aid to help her after knee surgery in 2004.
In November, the monarch suffered a back sprain and is believed to still be recovering from the injury.
She has been on light duties since then but it was recently revealed her diary is slowly "filling up".
However, "lessons have been learned" since the queen undertook 19 engagements in as many days last October and her schedule will be more lower paced than before.
A source said: “There are no plans for her to withdraw from public life.
“The Queen’s diary is filling up again but it will be paced to what is appropriate.
“They don’t want to put extra strain on her and other royals will help her out where necessary.”