{"id":183348,"date":"2026-04-02T12:54:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T12:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/183348\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T12:54:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T12:54:21","slug":"king-charles-and-queen-camilla-break-tradition-as-they-attend-royal-maundy-service-ahead-of-big-family-reunion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/183348\/","title":{"rendered":"King Charles and Queen Camilla break tradition as they attend Royal Maundy service ahead of big family reunion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The King<\/a> and Queen<\/a> broke tradition with their annual Royal Maundy service on Thursday as they arrived at St Asaph Cathedral.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Charles, 77, and Camilla, 78, are in Wales for the traditional hour-long service on the Thursday before Easter. It is the first time the service has been held in North Wales in its 800-year history, and the second time in Wales entirely.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the service, the King handed out Maundy Money to local people. The number is equal to the monarch’s age, so he handed out gifts to 77 men and 77 women in recognition of their Christian duty and contribution. Each recipient receives two purses \u2013 one red and one white.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Charles did not attend the service in 2024 due to his cancer diagnosis, but returned to the annual event last year. He continues to undergo treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It comes ahead of the Easter service at St George’s Chapel in Windsor on Sunday, which will also be attended by the King and Queen. There will be a family reunion, with the Prince and Princess of Wales also expected to attend, along with other members of the royal family. Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie will be absent this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"King\u00a9 PA Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The King and Queen arrived at Thursday’s Maundy service at St Asaph Cathedral, which is the UK’s smallest ancient cathedral.<\/p>\n

\"Queen\u00a9 PA Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Queen Camilla looked as radiant as ever in a navy pleated dress and match embroidered coat from Christian Dior, paired with a hat by Philip Treacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She also made a nod to the late Queen Elizabeth II, wearing a sapphire and diamond brooch from her collection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"King\u00a9 PA Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The couple waved to crowds on arrival, ahead of entering the church with a procession.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"King\u00a9 PA Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The couple entered the church in a royal procession to specially commissioned music by Welsh composers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"King\u00a9 Chris Jackson\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The King continued the tradition of handing out Maundy money, which dates back to the 17th century. This year, the red purse contains a \u00a35 coin commemorating her centenary and a 50p coin for the 50th anniversary of the King’s Trust.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The white purse contains coins matching the monarch’s age in pennies (77p). The recipients are chosen from local dioceses of the church.<\/p>\n

\"King\u00a9 PA Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The King is traditionally assisted in distributing the Maundy Money by the Lord High Almoner, currently the Bishop of Norwich, the Right Rev Graham Usher.<\/p>\n

Queen Elizabeth initially started the tradition of taking the Maundy service around the country, rather than limiting it to London. Throughout her 70-year reign, she visited every cathedral in the UK to distribute Maundy money.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Spray\u00a9 PA Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Before the service, “Not our King” graffiti was sprayed on the cathedral, which was covered up before the royal arrivals. <\/p>\n

\"King\u00a9 PA Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The King’s first Maundy service as monarch took place at York Minster in 2023. Last year, he released a special message for Easter, reflecting on the “paradox of human life” and the ability to show “great cruelty” and “great kindness” ahead of the Maundy service, which was held at Durham Cathedral.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The King and Queen broke tradition with their annual Royal Maundy service on Thursday as they arrived at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[1432,2575,1428,9,24,63,1433,122,124,123,1431],"class_list":{"0":"post-183348","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-british-royals","9":"tag-easter","10":"tag-king-charles","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-queen-camilla","15":"tag-queens","16":"tag-queens-headlines","17":"tag-queens-news","18":"tag-royalty"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}