Queen Elizabeth on her final engagement - September 2022.Photo: Jane Barlow - WPA Pool/Getty Images

Queen Elizabeth II waits in the Drawing Room before receiving newly elected leader of the Conservative party Liz Truss at Balmoral Castle

Queen Elizabethis back in front of the camera.

A new solo photo of the monarch, 96, was released Tuesday, just before sheappointedConservative Party leaderLiz Trussas the new prime minister. In the image, the Queen beamed before a crackling fire in the Drawing Room ofBalmoral Castlein Scotland, holding a walking cane and hergo-to black handbag.

Just days before, the Queen and Princess Anne stepped out for a surprise engagement. The mother-daughter duo headed to Maidenhead to open the new 28-bedThames Hospicebuilding. There, the Queen animatedly chatted with patient Pat White, also speaking with staff and volunteers during a tour.

Queen Elizabeth.KIRSTY O’CONNOR/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II shakes hands with patient Pat White during a visit to officially open the new building of Thames Hospice in Maidenhead, Berkshire

Truss, 47, becomes the third and youngest woman to be elected the U.K.’s prime minister — andthe firstnot to formally meet the Queen in England after election in the royal’s 70-year reign. The monarch has been experiencingepisodic mobility issues, and a source tells PEOPLE that the decision was made to host Tuesday’s audiences as Balmoral to provide certainty for schedules.

In addition to inviting Truss to become prime minister and form a government in her name,Queen Elizabethalso met with outgoing Prime MinisterBoris Johnsonat the castle for a formal farewell.

Queen Elizabeth and Liz Truss.Jane Barlow/AP/Shutterstock

Queen Elizabeth II, left, welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland

Appointing the prime minister is one of the Queen’s key duties, one she wouldn’t delegate to her son and heir,Prince Charles. Charles, 73, has been undertaking an increasing number of roles on the monarch’s behalf in recent months.

Can’t get enough ofPEOPLE’s Royals coverage?Sign up for our free Royals newsletterto get the latest updates onKate Middleton,Meghan Markleand more!

Although she met her first prime minister, Sir Winston Churchill, when she stepped off the plane that brought her back from Kenya to Britain following the death of her father, King Geroge VI, in 1952, all others have gone to see her at the palace.

source: people.com