Kate Middleton appeared somber as she was seen driving out of Windsor Friday afternoon, the first sighting of the royal since Queen Elizabeth’s death.

The stone-faced Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge wore large sunglasses and was dressed in black as she drove to pick up her children from school in Berkshire, the Daily Mail reported. 

Kate was notably absent from the royals– including her husband, Prince William– who gathered at the queen’s bedside at Balmoral on Thursday.

While the nation waited for updates on the monarch’s condition, she was seen picking the couple’s three children up from their first day of school.

The duchess’s exit came not long after her estranged brother-in-law, Prince Harry, was seen arriving at Windsor after flying back from Scotland. Her father-in-law, now King Charles III, is already busy at Buckingham Palace meeting with Prime Minister Liz Truss ahead of his 6 p.m. address to the nation.

The queen’s death marks a major turning point for Kate’s role within the royal family. Alongside her husband, she has inherited the duchy of Cornwall from the king.

With Prince William now first in line for the throne, the couple will likely also be named Prince and Princess of Wales sometime in the near future.