King Charles follows royal tradition going back hundreds of years

King Charles followed centuries old royal tradition as he and Queen Consort Camilla attended the Royal Maundy Service at York Minster, where the monarch distributed the Maundy Money.

On arrival at York Minster, they were met at the Great West Doors by the Dean of York, The Very Reverend Dominic Barrington and The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York.

After being presented with the traditional Nosegay, a small flower bouquet, the King and the Queen Consort processed up the Nave for the Service.

During the service, King Charles presented 74 men and 74 women (signifying the age of the Monarch) with the Maundy Money to thank them for their outstanding Christian service and for making a difference to the lives of people in their local communities.

Recipients are selected from Church of England dioceses across the country, and Anglican and Ecumenical partners across the UK.

The service dates back to 600AD and these special coins have kept much the same form since 1670. The first recorded Royal Distribution was at Knaresborough, North Yorkshire by King John in 1210.

The King presented each recipient with two purses: one red and one white. The white purse contains a set of specially minted silver Maundy coins equivalent in value to the age of the Monarch (this year is 74p).

In each pouch, there will be seven individual sets of coins, each amounting to 10p (made up of a 1p, 2p, 3p and 4p). There will then be an additional 4p to bring the total to seventy-four.

The Red Purse contains a £5 and a fifty pence commemorative coins. The year the £5 coin will celebrate His Majesty’s forthcoming seventy-fifth birthday and the fifty pence coin will commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Windrush Generations.

Following the Service, they took part in a formal photograph with the Royal Maundy party.