3 min readNew DelhiApr 7, 2023 08:00 PM IST
First published on: Apr 7, 2023 at 08:00 PM IST
King Charles took part in a centuries-old Easter tradition of the royal family for the first time since becoming the monarch in September, after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II. He, along with Queen Consort Camilla, attended the Royal Maundy Service at York Minster, where Charles distributed the Maundy Money.
In an Instagram post, the official account of the Royal Family shared that the King presented ‘Maundy Money’ to 74 men and 74 women (signifying the age of the monarch) in recognition of their outstanding Christian service and for making a difference to the lives of people in their local communities. “Since the reign of Henry IV, the number of recipients has been determined by the Monarch’s age,” the post read.
According to the Royal Family, 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.”
At the ceremony, King Charles presented each recipient with two purses – one red and one white. The white purse contained a set of specially minted silver Maundy coins equivalent in value to the age of the monarch (74, in this case). “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,” as per royal.uk.
The red purse, on the other hand, contained £5 and a fifty pence commemorative coins. “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.”
BBC stated that it was Queen Elizabeth II who decided that this traditional ceremony should take place in a different Anglican cathedral each year, to ensure it was not always held in London. The Maundy Money ceremony was held at York Minster on two previous occasions by the late Queen, on April 5, 2012, and March, 30, 1972.
The archbishop was quoted as saying by the news outlet that the monarch’s visit was a “joy”. He said, “We weren’t really expecting this, we were delighted because it’s his choice where he comes.”
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The Maundy Money ceremony was held at York Minster on two previous occasions by the late Queen (Source: royal.uk) 
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