King Charles and Queen Camilla are continuing a royal Easter tradition.
The King, 76, and Queen, 77, attended the annual Royal Maundy Service on April 17, where the monarch gave gifts of specially-minted coins to 76 men and women (reflecting his age).
The King wasn’t able to carry out the duty last year due to his cancer treatment, and his wife stepped in to do so, making history as the first consort to lead the ancient tradition.
The Royal Maundy Service is now held in a different church each year, and the 2025 event took place at Durham Cathedral in the northeast of England.
During the service, King Charles presented two purses, one white and one red, of money to recipients being honored for their outstanding Christian service and for contributing to the lives of people in their communities. The white purse contained the exclusively made commemorative Maundy coins, while the red purse had a special £5 coin that marks the life of Charles’ late grandmother, the Queen Mother, and carries messages about World War II.
Their visit began inside the Cathedral, where they were given a small flower bouquet, known as nosegays, before joining the procession through the Nave.
At the end of the service, the royal couple joined the Royal Maundy Party for a photograph outside the North Door and visited the Deanery to meet members of the community involved in the service. They were also shown an exhibition of the Cathedral’s Magna Cartas, which are on display for the first time in eight years, marking the 800th anniversary of the 1225 issue in Durham’s collection.
The distribution of Royal Maundy money has its roots in 13th century England when King John in 1210 carried out the alms-giving in North Yorkshire, England.
Since the 15th century, the number of recipients has been related to the years of the sovereign’s life.
The traditional handing out of alms is done on Maundy Thursday, the day that marks the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles in the Christian calendar.
Earlier in the day, Charles gave his annual Easter message, stressing the importance of love and the unity of all people irrespective of faith.
Charles stressed that the work that humanitarians do around the world knows no boundaries, irrespective of religion, background, or faith. His commitment to building bridges between faiths is a message that has run throughout Charles’ public life.
“There are three virtues that the world still needs — faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love,” Charles wrote, echoing the core message of love in all religions.
It came a week after King Charles and Queen Camilla returned from their state visit to Italy, where they met Pope Francis and wooed crowds in Ravenna.
During the visit, Camilla gave an update on Charles’ health amid his ongoing cancer treatment. She said, “I think he loves his work, and it keeps him going. And I think it’s wonderful, you know, if you’ve been ill and you are recovering, you’re getting better and now he wants to do more and more and more. That’s the problem,” Camilla said, according to the BBC. “That’s what he’s driven by — helping others.”
And she was candid about what made the couple’s marriage work as their 20th wedding anniversary fell during their time in Rome on April 9. “Twenty years, who could believe it was 20 years? What is the secret? I don’t know… well… I suppose it’s just sort of friendship, really,” she said.
“Laughing at the same things, getting on with life. I suppose doing this, takes up most of the time,” Camilla told reporters during a visit to the Alessandro Manzoni school.
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The Easter celebrations will continue over the weekend, when the couple will lead other members of the royal family at the holiday service at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle on April 20.
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