"I am very glad to have a chance to see you if only mechanically this morning," the queen, 95, said as she oversaw the awarding of a medal for poetry to British poet and translator David Constantine via video link.
"I don't know what you do with it. Do you put it in a cupboard?" she asked regarding the medal, smiling into the camera.
The footage was released by Buckingham Palace.
The world's oldest and longest-reigning monarch spent a night in hospital last week for an unspecified ailment not related to Covid-19. It was Elizabeth's first overnight hospital stay for years.
The queen had been due to attend an evening reception next Monday at the COP26 conference in Glasgow but will instead deliver a recorded message to world leaders.
READ MORE: UK's Queen Elizabeth pulls out of COP26 following advice to rest