King Charles III and Queen Camilla will be joined by members of the royal family for church on Easter Sunday, Buckingham Palace has confirmed.
The names of those who will be joining have not been announced but are expected to include Princess Anne and Sir Timothy Laurence, and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh. Yet royal watchers will be eagerly waiting to see if one face in particular is among the royal arrivals: the Princess of Wales, who has missed the annual service for the last two years.
As with families around the world, Easter is an opportunity for the House of Windsor to come together and represents one of the few dates in the royal calendar when the family turns out in force.
Festivities usually kick off on Maundy Thursday, when the monarch visits a selected British cathedral to hand out special coins, in a ritual that recognises the contributions of men and women to their community and church. The ceremony has taken place every year in England since 600 AD. In 2023, the service took place in York Minster. The following year, the King was unable to attend due to his own cancer treatment, but he recorded a special message that emphasised the importance of friendship and service, as Queen Camilla distributed the Maundy Money at Worcester Cathedral on his behalf. Last year, the couple travelled to Durham for the special event. This year, it will take place at St Asaph Cathedral, in Wales.
The main event, however, is the whole royal family gathering at Windsor Castle on Easter Sunday. Every year, most members – including the King and Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales, Zara Tindall, Peter Phillips, and Princesses Beatrice and Princess Eugenie – come together for the church service at St George’s Chapel, where crowds of well-wishers gather in the castle grounds with flowers and presents. In years gone by, the royal family have reportedly followed the service with a traditional roast lamb lunch back at the castle. In years gone by, the royal family have reportedly followed the service with a traditional roast lamb lunch back at the castle.
The Princess of Wales missed the service in 2024 as she underwent treatment for cancer after revealing her diagnosis in a bombshell video just a few weeks prior. Last year, there was speculation that Catherine might attend alongside her husband, Prince William, and their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. However, they missed the service, reportedly in order to mark the occasion privately at Anmer Hall, Norfolk, after a difficult year.
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There will be added attention on the royal arrivals this year as the world waits to see whether Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie attend. Indeed, the service is being billed as a litmus test on the Princesses’ standing within the royal family. The daughters of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson have frequently attended the service over the years and any absence could be interpreted as a sign that their reputations have been tarred by the scandal engulfing their father.
The late Queen is said to have missed the St George’s Chapel service just a handful of times throughout her long reign. She was absent for reportedly the first time in five decades in 2022, having previously only missed the occasion in 1970, when she was on a tour of New Zealand and Australia. The family was instead amply represented by the Prince and Princess of Wales (then the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge), who were joined by Prince George and Princess Charlotte, with the group opting for a co-ordinating, spring-like blue colour palette.
Royal watchers eager for a repeat of the Princess of Wales’ recent elegant displays at the installation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Nigerian state visit and the Commonwealth Day service will no doubt be hoping for a similarly triumphant outing on Sunday.
English