Meghan makes 1st joint appearance with Queen Elizabeth

Crowds cheered Queen Elizabeth and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, as they arrived in the English county of Cheshire on Thursday to begin their first official joint royal trip without Prince Harry.

Meghan, who married the monarch's grandson in a glittering ceremony at her Windsor Castle home last month, travelled by the Royal Train to northwest England for a day of events.

Their first stop featured a performance by local schoolchildren in the town of Widnes, near Liverpool. The duchess, who wore a beige Givenchy pencil dress, sat next to the Queen for the performance.

The Queensported a lime green ensemble; green is the colour adopted by survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire in London a year ago.

Both royals, heads slightly bowed, observed a national silence in honour of the victims of the fire.

Dozens of schoolchildren greeted the queen and Meghan waving Union flags and cheering. In Chester, an ancient Roman city near the Welsh border, hundreds clapped and cheered as the two arrived. The queen waved.

Both smiled as they opened the Mersey Gateway Bridge, a new toll bridge over the River Mersey and one of the United Kingdom's biggest infrastructure projects in recent years.

At one point, Meghan appeared confused over who should enter the royal car first, but resorted to asking the Queen what her preference would be. Meghan then climbed in first. In Chester, the pair opened the Storyhouse, a library, theatre and cinema complex.