The Queen and Prince Charles pictured together enjoying a walk in Windsor ahead of Easter

The monarch and her eldest son strolled alongside the daffodils in the garden of Frogmore House, a royal residence around half a mile south of Windsor Castle, where the Queen has been spending lockdown.

The photos were taken on March 23, a week after the Duke of Edinburgh returned to the castle from spending a month in hospital, but were only released on Good Friday.The pair appeared in good spirits and were pictured smiling and laughing as they crossed a small bridge over a stream in the gardens.

Meanwhile, Charles has recorded verse by acclaimed poet and Catholic priest Gerard Manley Hopkins to show support for Christians at Easter, Clarence House said.

He has narrated the Hopkins poem God’s Grandeur which will be played during a virtual service on Sunday morning at Stonyhurst College, a Catholic boarding school in Lancashire where the Victorian cleric taught.

Clarence House said: “The Prince of Wales has recorded the Gerard Manley Hopkins Poem, God’s Grandeur, to show support for Christians around the world at Easter.

“Easter is the most important festival of the Christian Church, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his crucifixion, and Hopkins’s poem captures the hope and joy associated with that season.”

The poem begins with the lines: “The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like shining from shook foil; It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed.”

Hopkins was one of the most influential poets of the Victorian era who converted to Catholicism, but gave up writing poetry after deciding to train to become a priest.

Some years later, he took up his pen again when inspired to write a long poem in memory of five nuns who died in a shipwreck.

His poems were not published in full until 1918, almost 30 years after his death, and Hopkins’ use of language, new rhythmic effects and unusual word combinations were a huge influence on major literary figures like WH Auden and Dylan Thomas.