Charles and Camilla will attend Sunday service, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. A Buckingham Palace spokesman told the Independent he would not confirm which members of the royal family would attend, but the queen was not expected to be there. During Thursday service at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, Charles followed the tradition of presenting Maundy coins to those who provided Christian service to the elderly, worked tirelessly during the pandemic, or comforted those in need. The Bishop of Worcester, Dr John Inge, speaking in his role as Lord High Almoner, said the Queen had a copy of the service order and a list of Maundy recipients and details about them. She told the church before the service began: “She is close and she would like to greet you.” Charles handed out Maundy coins to 96 men and 96 women – as the queen will be 96 years old this year, celebrating her birthday on April 21. Muriel Davies, 99, who served in the Women’s Army during World War II, was recognized for RNLI’s 50 years of fundraising in her hometown of Bolton. He said after the service: “It was nice to meet Prince Charles, he said ‘it’s your birthday, I wish you happy birthday in July – it’s wonderful to be here today’”. Mrs. Davis will be celebrating her 100th birthday on July 9, and when asked if she missed the Queen, she joked with Charles’s deputy, “I’m glad to see no one.” There have been just four other cases where a member of the royal family has replaced the queen in the Royal Maundy service. The last time was in 1970, when the Queen Mother stood while the monarch was on tour in New Zealand. The Royal Maundy is an ancient ceremony that comes from the command given by Christ after washing the feet of his disciples the day before Good Friday. Earlier this week, the queen revealed that her Covid period made her feel “very tired and exhausted”, just over a month after she tested positive for the virus. Speaking in a virtual contact with the staff and patients of the Royal Hospital of London, the Queen added: “This horrible pandemic. “It’s not a nice result.”