The Queen appears for the first time after meeting her grandson Harry

Queen Elizabeth appeared in public for the first time since meeting her grandson Prince Harry and his wife Megan, which sparked a storm in the corridors of the royal court, but she did not mention the crisis that afflicted her family.

In an interview with US broadcaster Oprah Winfrey that aired last Sunday, Meghan said that a member of the British royal family made a racist comment about their son Archie, while Harry criticized the family in the way they reacted to the press's treatment of his wife.

Buckingham Palace issued a statement on Tuesday on behalf of Queen Elizabeth saying that members of the royal family were saddened to learn of the events that Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have been through in the past few years.

In a video call with scientists and school children to mark the British "Science Week", the Queen of Britain did not mention the interview, especially since the family's usual approach to such statements is to consider it a "private family matter".

Instead, the Queen discussed the latest developments in NASA's Perseverance mission to Mars.

She also discussed the discovery of a rare meteorite that landed in Glastershire, western Britain, last month, the first meteorite to have been discovered in the United Kingdom in 30 years.

The Queen reminded schoolchildren studying space exploration of the importance of returning to Earth, when she recalled the past, speaking of the first man to take a space flight, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

She added: “He didn't speak English. It was amazing, and I think it was especially cool for being the first" to go into space.

"It must have been terrifying to be the first man in space and not know what's going to happen," said astronomer Maggie Adrien Pocock, who hosted the virtual event to celebrate Britain's "Science Week."

The Queen replied, "Well, yes, and if you can come back again... that's very important."