Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall arrive at the Commonwealth Day Service on March 14, 2022.Photo: Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images
Prince Charlesis standing in for his motherQueen Elizabethat the Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey on Monday.
On Friday, the Queen, 95, announced that she wouldnot be attending the annual ceremony, which celebrates the union of the 54 nations that make up the Commonwealth.
“After discussing the arrangements with the Royal Household, The Queen has asked The Prince of Wales to represent Her Majesty at the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey on Monday,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement.
“The Queen will continue with other planned engagements, including in-person audiences, in the week ahead,” the statement continued.
Although she recently recovered from COVID-19, PEOPLE understands that the Queen’s absence from the Commonwealth Day Service is not related to illness. There were discussions surrounding the monarch’s comfort when it came to her travel arrangements and attending the service.
The monarch has beenusing a walking canesince October and recentlycomplained of mobility issues.
Charles arrived alongside his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. The Queen recently announced her wish for Camilla to be known as Queen Consort when Charles takes the throne one day.
Kate Middleton and Prince William arrive at the Commonwealth Day Service on March 14, 2022.Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images
Prince WilliamandKate Middletonwere also in attendance. As the royal couple arrived, William gave Camilla a kiss on both cheeks, and Kate did the same for her father-in-law and then Camilla. The two couples then chatted as they waited to make their way down the aisle.
The Rt Rev Dr. David Hoyle Dean of Westminster welcomed the congregation, saying that they were meeting “in challenging times” at a place of worship and coronation to celebrate “the values we share as a Commonwealth of nations.” And to thank God for the Queen’s “faithfulness and commit ourselves” to learn from her “example of duty and service.”
Prince William, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Charles and Kate Middleton at the Commonwealth Day Service on March 14.DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images
Kate Middleton and Prince William.Samir Hussein/WireImage
Monday’s service marks the first time since the coronavirus pandemic started that an in-person service has been able to take place. The last Commonwealth Day service was in March 2020, which was also the last joint royal outing thatPrince HarryandMeghan Markleattended before officially stepping back as senior working members of the royal family.
DANIEL LEAL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
As the service began,Queen Elizabeth’s Commonwealth Day address was released. In the message, which she wrote from Windsor Castle, she pledged to continue the promise she made 75 years ago that she will be forever “devoted” to her public work.
Queen Elizabeth.Joe Giddens/POOL/AFP via Getty
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“In this year of my Platinum Jubilee, it has given me pleasure to renew the promise I made in 1947, that my life will always be devoted in service,” she stated in her message.
source: people.com
