Today, accompanied by Queen Camilla, King Charles made a rare public appearance by leading the Royal Family in attendance to this year’s Easter Matins service at St George’s Chapel.
The King has been undergoing treatment for cancer, as announced earlier this year, and has scaled back on all public-facing duties; he has continued to work on constitutional duties such as his daily red boxes, however.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla along with other members of the Royal Family arriving for the Easter Sunday church service at St.George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle
I have to say His Majesty seemed in great form this morning, really happy to be here, and spent a fair time acknowledging the well wishes of the crowd and waving to the media pic.twitter.com/UUQe9GV6NM
— Rebecca English (@RE_DailyMail) March 31, 2024
Charles and Camilla were driven down from the private apartments in the Upper Ward of Windsor Castle, as were all royal attendees today. Usually, the family walks down together, as with recent years.
It was a much smaller group than is often seen, featuring The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and The Earl of Wessex (their son, James), along with Princess Anne and Sir Tim. The Duke of York was also in attendance, accompanied by Sarah, Duchess of York. Andrew slipped into the chapel fairly quickly, while the other Royals chatted to clergy outside.
Green seemed to be the colour of the day, with Camilla, Anne and Sarah each wearing a tone – forest, sage and mint respectively. Sophie wore purple.
Noticeably absent from this year’s easter service were The Prince and Princess of Wales, and their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
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Their absence comes after Catherine announced that she was undergoing preventative treatment for cancer, after weeks of online speculation and conspiracy theories on her health and whereabouts.
The family are thought to be spending the Easter holidays at Anmer Hall, their residence in Norfolk, which was a wedding present to William and Catherine from Elizabeth II. There, the couple will remain out of the media spotlight to allow for time as a family following the announcement.
Easter had long been a wider family occasion – similar to Trooping the Colour – with the likes of Peter Philipps, Zara Tindall, The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Earl of Snowdon and Lady Sarah Chatto joining the ranks on most years.
A small group of wellwishers were allowed into the castle precincts, and greeted The King cheerfully as he got out of the car. One person shouted ‘Happy Easter’, to which Charles gestured with his arm and responded: ‘And to you,’ reports The Times.
Earlier in the week, Queen Camilla attended the Royal Maundy Service, on behalf of The King, at Worcester Cathedral, where she handed out Maundy money to parishioners who had made positive contributions to their communities.
