Queen’s ‘regret’ as she pulls out of another royal event

The Queen has pulled out of attending an annual Easter church service next week for the first time in more than 50 years as she could not guarantee her attendance, Buckingham Palace has announced.

It is yet another engagement that Her Majesty has cancelled – and instead Prince Charles and Camilla will take her place at the Royal Maundy Service, which will be held at St George’s Chapel in Windsor on Thursday. The Queen is reportedly ‘regretfully unable to commit’ to attending the annual service, which usually sees the monarch distribute special Maundy money to pensioners, reports the Mirror .

It is understood the 95-year-old has been experiencing mobility issues and with the order of service being printed, she was keen for the arrangements to be confirmed ‘to avoid any misunderstanding or the day to be overshadowed’. Palace aides have admitted in recent weeks that Her Majesty, who turns 96 on April 21, has ‘good days and less good days’ in terms of being able to get about.

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The annual event is an important fixture in the royal calendar and will see Charles follow the ancient tradition of distributing Maundy money to community stalwarts – with the number of 96 men and 96 women being representative of the Queen’s birthday of that year – for the first time. The Maundy Thursday service has been cancelled for the last two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2019, Princess Eugenie joined her grandmother in Windsor for the occasion.

There have been four occasions where another member of the royal family has attended the Royal Maundy event in Her Majesty’s absence. In 1954 The Lord High Almoner represented the Queen as Her Majesty was on a Commonwealth Tour.

In 1960, the Queen Mother represented her daughter as Prince Andrew was born in the February and in 1964 the Princess Mary, Princess Royal, represented the sovereign as Prince Edward was born in the March. The last time Her Majesty was unable to make the event was in 1970 when she requested the Queen Mother to represent her as she was on tour in New Zealand.

The monarch has been forced to cut back on engagements since being taken to hospital for a night last October for an unspecified illness, and then being told by her doctors to rest. In recent weeks, the Queen has been forced to pull out of several high profile events, including the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey.

The decision to cancel her appearance then was understood to be related to her comfort in travelling the 26-mile journey from Windsor Castle to London. However, last week she did make it to her beloved husband Prince Philip’s memorial service, which was also at Westminster Abbey.

Special arrangements were put in place for the Queen’s comfort, with the service limited to 40 minutes and the monarch sitting in one of the Canada chairs but with an additional cushion. The difficulty for the Queen was understood to be whether the monarch would be able to walk to her seat.

The sovereign who recently decided to make Windsor Castle her primary residence, rejecting the possibility that she will one day move back to Buckingham Palace, has been carrying out virtual events and her other duties as head of state from her Berkshire home where she has spent most of the pandemic.

Pictures released last month also showed her standing with a walking stick as she viewed a display of hand-decorated teapots and antique enamelled trinket boxes brought to her Windsor Castle home for her to see.