Britain's Princess Diana, in her first public appearance since bursting into tears amid controversy about her marriage, chatted with her husband Prince Charles Saturday in a royal show of unity.
The couple appeared along with other members of the royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after attending a glittering parade to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's birthday.Standing side by side to watch a flyby, the pair appeared slightly uneasy but exchanged a few words and smiled as the cameras clicked.
It was on the same balcony that they exchanged a kiss after their 1981 wedding as millions watched on television.
The queen's family attended the top ceremonial event of the royal calendar after days of media speculation that the heir to the throne and his wife were at loggerheads.
Princess Diana appeared to have recovered her public poise after bursting into tears under the strain during a visit to a cancer hospice Thursday.
Her distraught face was pictured next day on the front pages of the popular press, which has given wide play to allegations that the princess had several times tried to take her life in despair at her marriage.
The princess, 30, laughed and chatted with Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and with her son, Harry, as they were driven in an open carriage to the Trooping the Color - a show of British pomp and circumstance by liveried courtiers and royal guards dressed in bearskin hats and red tunics.
The queen's birthday is actually in April but the official celebration, dating back to the days of George III and carried out in the presence of the queen, takes place in June.
Saturday's ceremony, attended by Prime Minister John Major and representatives from the British Commonwealth, went ahead under tight security after a recent wave of attacks by Irish Republican Army guerrillas on the capital.
An opinion poll due to be published in the Sunday Times newspaper showed only 46 percent of those questioned believed Britain would still be ruled by the monarchy in 50 years, compared with 69 percent two years ago.