It's been a busy week for the royal family. Between the Queen's return to in-person engagements, her great-grandchildren's horseback riding lessons and baby news from across the pond, it seems like it's blue skies ahead for the Windsors. Not everything went to plan, however. Kate's uncle broke the Palace's silence on Harry and Meghan's Oprah interview to defend his niece and bash Meghan Markle. Here's everything you need to know...

THE QUEEN'S TRIUMPHANT RETURN: After months of face coverings and isolation, a maskless (and vaccinated) Queen Elizabeth II, 94, marked her first in-person official engagement of 2021 on Wednesday. Her Majesty entertained Australian air force officers and other service personnel as she quipped about being 'sent off to chase the Russians' and delighted Royal watchers at home who saw the Queen's appearance as a major step towards normality.

While she has been seen in video calls this year, Wednesday is the first time the Monarch has been seen in public since December, when she welcomed the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge back to Windsor after their whistle-stop tour of Britain. It is also the first time she has been seen since Harry and Meghan's bombshell Oprah interview.

The Queen, who had her first dose of the jab in January, donned a bright spring-inspired ensemble; an ivory Angela Kelly dress, green coat and matching hat adorned with faux daffodils and orchids, and the Australian wattle brooch that was presented to her on her first tour of the country in 1954. She joked: 'It's a very long time since I've been here,' as she arrived at the memorial - which she had opened in her coronation year, on October 17, 1953 (pictured).

SINCERE APPRECIATION: The Queen has acted as an anchor throughout the coronavirus pandemic urging calm and inspiring hope, in spite of the turmoil unfolding in her own family including Megxit, William and Charles's battle against the virus and her 99-year-old husband's health. Her selflessness, however, has not gone unnoticed. The Queen has reportedly been deluged with hundreds of letters of support and encouragement in the last few months - especially following Harry and Meghan's bombshell Oprah interview. According to the Mail on Sunday, sacks full of mail are delivered everyday to Windsor Castle where the Queen has been in lockdown. The cards, gifts and letters are said to be a source of great comfort to the Monarch.

The Queen's 83-year-old lady-in-waiting Dame Mary Morrison replies to every letter, with the help of other Palace aides, including fellow ladies-in-waiting. Some responses are said to be deeply personal, with Dame Mary thanking correspondents for their 'loyal support', adding that the Queen appreciates the good wishes and 'kindness' shown towards the Royal Family 'at this time'. A source said: 'We have seen a spike in correspondence after the interview in the same way that it might spike after any other event.'

The Queen has said that the concerns raised by Meghan and Harry in their US TV interview with Oprah Winfrey would be treated 'seriously' but pointedly remarked that 'recollections may vary' when it came to specific allegations. A YouGov poll found that Harry and Meghan's popularity plummeted after their interview, but the Queen's remained high.

JUST LIKE GAN-GAN: It's not just members of the public showing their support and affection for the Queen. Prince George, seven, Princess Charlotte, five, and Prince Louis, who is three next month, are following in Her Majesty's footsteps and learning to 'ride their first ponies ahead of summer with their great-grandmother'. The adorable trio, who have polished their abilities on their own ponies while spending time at Anmer Hall, their country home in Norfolk, will make great companions for the Queen, 94, who has been riding horses since she was just four-years-old. The Queen has been staying fit herself and has been spotted riding horses around the grounds of Windsor Castle in recent months.

The children, as well as their parents Kate Middleton and Prince William, are expected to spend time with the monarch, who they affectionately call 'Gan Gan', at Windsor and Balmoral this summer, when lockdown eases. She is reportedly taking a close interest in her great-grandchildren’s progress in the saddle.

The children's increased interest in riding ponies in recent months may have helped them to cope with the loss of their cocker spaniel Lupo who died in November. Prince William is said to be 'thrilled' that his children are embracing the hobby, after he was taught how to ride as a child by the Prince of Wales and the late Diana at Highgrove. Pictured: Prince Charles with Princess Diana and sons Prince Harry and Prince William at Balmoral in August 1988.

'I WOULD FIGHT FOR KATE'S HONOR UNTIL THE DAY I DIE': Weeks after Harry and Meghan's Oprah interview, the Royal family are still privately handling the fall-out from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Oprah interview - including the incendiary claim that Kate Middleton made Meghan cry ahead of her wedding - but Kate's uncle decided this week to clear the air about his niece. Speaking for the first time since the allegations aired, Gary Goldsmith told The Mail last Sunday: ‘I’ve known Kate since she was born and she doesn’t have a mean bone in her body. It’s just simply not in her nature... I don’t believe for a moment that Kate made Meghan cry.’

Goldsmith, the 55-year-old brother of Kate’s mother Carole, continued to extol his niece saying: 'She’s even lovelier on the inside than on the outside. If anyone had a hissy fit, it must have been Meghan. Kate would have been trying to make the peace. I would fight for Kate’s honor until the day I die. She is the most spectacular person I’ve ever met.’

Kate's uncle, however, had a few choice words for Meghan Markle. 'I don’t blame Meghan – she’s a Hollywood starlet. You can’t blame a tiger for biting the head off a sheep. But I don’t believe a word that comes out of her mouth. She’s an actress and knows how to manipulate her audience,' he said. 'You don’t ask for anonymity and take a step back from public life to then throw your family and your grandmother under a bus on TV. Why would you do that? The Royal Family is not racist, it’s not sexist, it’s not ageist. They are a moral compass.’

MEGHAN'S FIRST KISS SPEAKS OUT: Across the pond, Meghan Markle's childhood sweetheart defended his ex and spilled the beans about her strained relationship with her father growing up. Joshua Silverstein, a Los Angeles-based actor, said that he does not believe that she ever bullied members of staff, saying that his guess was she refused to 'fall in line' and spoke out against being disrespected. He said: 'When you find women of color — particularly black women — standing up for themselves and speaking out and speaking against what they feel [is] disrespect or oppression, often times whiteness tends to classify that in negative ways because they don't want that to happen.'

Silverstein, who was Markle's first kiss, is now a married father of two - but remembers fond times with the Duchess. The pair met at a drama-focused summer camp organized by the Agape International Spiritual Center in California. He says the pair initially bonded over their mixed race heritage, telling DailyMailTV in 2018 that they found themselves thrown together because of their 'intimate' class of 15. Silverstein described then 13-year-old Meghan as being 'very sweet', charming and 'quirky' but already displaying the determined streak that took her to success in Suits. Pictured: Meghan Markle being interviewed on Nickelodeon at age 12.

Silverstein told Us Weekly that Markle and her father Thomas had a 'challenging' relationship. 'I knew her dad growing up as kids,' he said. 'I didn't see him often, but I did know that Meghan's relationship with her dad was complicated and I understood that as most teenager-to-parent relationships are.' He said that he 'couldn't speak to the specificity of what Meghan went through' with her father, but said that he remembered having 'very cordial' interactions him. 'I think at the end of the day, we're all human beings and we all have to create boundaries with people that we may not want to create boundaries with,' Silverstein said. 'If that means creating a boundary with your parents, sometimes that's what you have to do'. Pictured: 15-year-old Meghan posing in front of Buckingham Palace in 1996.

A HOME BIRTH IN MONTECITO: Meghan Markle is reportedly planning to give birth to her second child with Prince Harry in the comfort of her own mansion in America, an insider has claimed. The Duchess of Sussex, 39, is due to welcome her second child with the Duke of Sussex, 36, in the summer, and it is thought she hopes to have a home birth at their stunning $14.7M Santa Barbara property in Montecito, California. Speaking about Meghan's home birthing plans, a source told Page Six: 'She has a beautiful home in California, it's a beautiful setting to give birth to her baby girl.' The source also said that Meghan initially planned to have a home birth for Archie, now 22 months old, but was unable to do so because her son was a week overdue.

Instead of welcoming her first child with an all-female midwife team at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, the mother was taken to London's private Portland hospital, where she gave birth to Archie on May 6, 2019. The source explained: 'Meghan's plan was to have a home birth with Archie, but you know what they say about the best-laid plans.'

The couple revealed during their bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview last month that their second child is a girl and is due to be born this summer. If born in America, Meghan and Prince Harry's baby will be entitled to US citizenship as an automatic right, and will have dual UK citizenship through her father.