Queen expected to miss Easter Sunday service
The Queen will not attend the Easter Sunday service in Windsor after pulling out of several events in recent months because of mobility problems.
Buckingham Palace said the Queen, who has experienced health problems recently, was not expected to attend the event on Sunday, although it is not known why.
Last week Buckingham Palace announced that the monarch, 95, would not be attending the Maundy Thursday service at St George’s Chapel in Windsor. For the first time she was represented by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall at what is considered an important fixture in the royal calendar.
Prince Charles followed the ancient tradition of distributing Maundy money to those who have provided Christian service to elderly people, worked tirelessly during the pandemic or been a comfort to those in need, during the service at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
The Queen is understood to be in good health but has some mobility problems. Last month she was escorted by her son the Duke of York into a memorial service for her late husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, in her first major official engagement in six months.
She has been increasingly delegating public appearances to other senior royals. As well as the Maundy service, Charles stood in for the Queen at the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey last month.
Thursday is the fifth time the Queen has not attended the Maundy service during her 70-year reign. The lord high almoner, the Rt Rev Michael Gresford Jones, the bishop of St Albans, represented the Queen in 1954, and six years later the Queen Mother stood in for her daughter, who had given birth to Andrew two months earlier.
In 1964 the birth of the Earl of Wessex in March meant the Queen’s role was fulfilled by her aunt, Princess Mary, and in 1970, the Queen Mother distributed the Maundy money on behalf of the Queen who was on tour in New Zealand.