Worship at the Abbey

Office for the Royal Maundy

21st April 2011 at 11:00 am

The Queen with The Duke of Edinburgh attended the annual Royal Maundy Service at Westminster Abbey on Thursday 21 April on Her Majesty’s 85th birthday.

Every year The Queen presents a gift of money to elderly people at the Abbey or at a Cathedral. The ceremony takes place on Maundy Thursday in recognition of the humble service our Lord Jesus Christ offered his disciples when he washed their feet at the Last Supper before his Crucifixion.

The offer of specially minted money recognises people’s long and valuable service to their community and their church. The number of recipients is related to the Sovereign's age. There were eighty-five male and eighty-five female recipients. This year they came from the wider Abbey community and from the diocese of Sodor and Man and the diocese in Europe.

For many years the service was always held at Westminster Abbey but during Her Majesty’s reign it was decided to move the ceremony around the country. The Abbey has hosted the Maundy service fourteen times since 1952. The last occasion was in 2001.