King Charles and Prince William conducted a rare joint engagement as they came together to attend a service at Westminster Abbey to mark the 300th anniversary of the Order of the Bath.
This year’s ceremony held profound importance for both Monarch and heir. It marked King Charles’ first appearance at the Service as Sovereign and the installation of Prince William as Great Master of the Order – a role traditionally held by the heir to the throne.
King Charles himself held the position for nearly five decades after being appointed by Elizabeth II in 1975.
The Order of the Bath, established in 1725 by George I, honours distinguished service by senior military officers and civil servants. Its roots stretch back to medieval rituals of purification, including a ceremonial bath taken by knights on the eve of their investiture.
Dressed in the Order’s resplendent crimson robes, father and son arrived separately at Westminster Abbey’s Great West Door just after 11 a.m. There, they were welcomed by the Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr. David Hoyle, before processing with Knights, Dames, and Officers of the Order to the Quire.
Accompanying The King was his 10-year-old page, Guy Tryon — son of Rhe King’s godson Lord Charles Tryon and grandson of Lady Dale Tryon, a close friend of Charles in his earlier years.
The service, led by the Dean, featured a reading from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians and culminated in the installation ceremony in the Henry VII Chapel. There, Prince William took his oath as Great Master beneath the banners of living knights, with the ceremony broadcast to the congregation on screens throughout the Abbey.
King Charles presented his son with the Book of Statutes, after which both he and William read the oath together. The Prince then led the ceremonial proceedings, including the drawing of his sword — a tradition echoed by the knights who followed him.
Among those installed were Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier and Admiral Sir Philip Jones as Knights Grand Cross of the Order. Others, including General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, Lord Young of Old Windsor (Elizabeth II’s former private secretary), and Sir Tom Scholar, took their oaths.
Following an offering of gold and silver at the altar by both The King and the Prince, the newly inducted knights joined in a solemn procession back to the Quire to the strains of Elgar’s Nimrod.
Lovely ceremony today.