I totally forgot that Queen Elizabeth likes to do religious appearances around Easter. To be fair, she hasn’t made those kinds of public appearances in 2020 or 2021, mostly because of the pandemic. I would assume that she made quiet visits to the church in Windsor in recent years, but she hasn’t been to a public Royal Maundy or Royal Easter service since 2019. Easter Maundy is, traditionally, the Thursday before Good Friday and the celebration of the Last Supper and the initiation of the Eucharist. In the Church of England, the Queen goes to church and passes out special coins to seniors for the Maundy Service. This year, she will not attend. She’s sending Charles and Camilla in her place. I wonder if she wanted to send Prince Andrew.

Queen Elizabeth will miss a pre-Easter tradition. The palace announced Friday that the monarch, 95, will miss the Royal Maundy Service at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle on April 14. Taking place the Thursday ahead of Easter each year, the Queen distributes specially-minted coins known as Maundy money to recognize people over 70 years old for their service to their communities.

Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall will attend in the Queen’s place, with Charles distributing the Maundy money.

Although Queen Elizabeth has continued to undertake light duties and hold virtual audiences from Windsor Castle, her public outings have grown increasingly rare amid a number of health setbacks.

A royal source tells PEOPLE, “It is with regret that she isn’t attending.”

The source adds that the Queen couldn’t commit to attending but knew the order of service was being printed and “was keen that the service was confirmed and all the recipients were aware so as to avoid any misunderstanding or overshadowing of the event on the day.”

The Queen first attended Royal Maundy as Princess Elizabeth in 1935. While she traditionally takes part in the event every year, she has missed the service before during her reign, twice following childbirth and twice because she was traveling to other parts of the Commonwealth.

This will be Prince Charles’s first time filling in for the Queen at the Royal Maundy Service, but he has attended with the Queen twice before in 1962 and 1968. The Queen has also been accompanied by other members of the royal family on several occasions, including Prince Philip and granddaughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. It will also be the first time Camilla has attended the service. Her appearance will be especially meaningful considering earlier this year, Queen Elizabeth announced her “sincere wish” for Camilla to be known as Queen Consort when Charles takes the throne one day.

[From People]

So, basically, they were going to leave it in the air and just decide on the day whether the Queen was feeling up to attending the service but then they decided to cancel for the sake of the printed order of service? Yeah, I don’t buy it. I don’t think she was ever going, and she probably crossed it off her schedule weeks ago. I still wonder what they had to give her to get through the service of thanksgiving, because I definitely think she was hopped up on painkillers. All of which is fine, but the silence around her mobility issues, her refusal to publicly use a wheelchair and her commitment to canceling nearly every public appearance has left a giant power vacuum within the royal family.

Also: if I was being unkind, I would point out that using the Daily Mail’s standards for Prince Harry, Queen Elizabeth’s canceled appearance means that she doesn’t care enough about a deeply religious holiday to make the effort. What, she can go to a service for a memorial for her husband but not a service for a significant Christian holiday?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Instar.

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