Yahoo News Queen says she is 'still perfectly capable of planting a tree' at 93
The Queen has shown age isn't a barrier for her as she insisted on planting a tree herself while on a royal visit.
Her Majesty, who turned 93 in April, was visiting the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) near Cambridge which is celebrating its centenary this year.
The NIAB's chairman Jim Godfrey had been ready to help the monarch put in the soil.
But, when she was asked if she would like assistance with the planting, the Queen replied: "No, no, I'm still perfectly capable of planting a tree."
The Queen got on with the task in hand, using a shovel to plant the Hornbeam sapling, after giving her handbag to a lady-in-waiting.
After the tree was officially planted, the royal even leant on the shovel, before having it taken from her by attendant Major Nana Kofi Twumasi-Ankrah.
Earlier, she also viewed an exhibition which celebrated 100 years of crop research and toured a glasshouse.
One of the NIAB's longest-serving employees, Teresa Stratton, handed the Queen a posy of flowers and plants, including chrysanthemums, roses and wheat, before Her Majesty left in a waiting car.
Ms Stratton, 58, has worked at NIAB for 41 years and said she told the monarch of other crops that the institute was working on.
"We're the only place in the UK that does grape research and she was very interested," she said.
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"She told us they were growing vines at Windsor and although she probably wouldn't drink the wine she was quite interested in it."
The NIAB's chief executive Dr Tina Barsby also added, "I mentioned that English wines were becoming more and more popular and better quality, and she said she doesn't drink wine but she hears they're very good."
Her Majesty first visited the NIAB in 1969 when she marked its fiftieth anniversary.
She is well-known for her love of nature. In 2015, she launched The Queen's Commonwealth Canopy project, a forest conservation project which includes all 53 nations of the Commonwealth.
After lunch at Queen's College University in Cambridge, the royal visited the Royal Papworth Hospital to officially open the new site in the city.
She was joined on the visit to the hospital by the Duchess of Gloucester, wife of the Queen's first cousin the Duke of Gloucester.
