Gracious gift

The tradition of passing the Queen’s Maundy money to pensioners, chosen in recognition of their service to the community, was conducted at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, yesterday without the presence of the Duke of Edinburgh, who had been incapacitated with a troublesome hip. The Queen, 92 next month, handed red and white purses to 92 men and 92 women and appeared in good spirits during the service. This year, the red purse contains a £5 coin and a 50p coin. The white one contains unique silver one, two, three and four penny pieces.