When Queen Camilla comes at Worcester Cathedral today for the royal ceremony of presenting presents on Maundy Thursday, she will be carrying out an ancient tradition in a new way.
For, while the Maundy tradition dates back to mediaeval times, it is unusual for a king to be represented by a spouse at this church event.
King Charles will be unable to attend due to ongoing treatment for an unidentified form of cancer, but he has produced a special video message imploring the nation to give a friendly hand to those in need.
The Maundy ritual was established hundreds of years ago to commemorate Jesus' example of service the night before he was crucified.
According to biblical sources, Jesus gathered with his followers for a Jewish Passover meal, known as the Last Supper, and demonstrated tremendous humility by washing their feet.
A mediaeval ceremony arose in which the monarch washed the feet of 12 old men, the same number as Jesus' disciples, to demonstrate that he was a servant of his people.
Later, it became customary for the monarch to offer alms to the needy on Maundy Thursday, with Henry IV requiring that the amount of coins donated match the monarch's own age.
Some took the event extremely seriously. Mary I is documented as washing the feet of 41 women in 1556, the year she turned 41. She also handed them 41 pence each, along with food and clothing.
Later rulers refused to attend when there was a disease or directed officials to wash the smelly feet of the peasants.
By the end of the 17th century, the Lord High Almoner was appointed to handle the job instead.
As a result, it became a royal event in abeyance.
It was not until 1931 that a King became personally involved again, when Princess Marie Louise (Queen Victoria's granddaughter) suggested to her cousin, George V, that he do so.
The following year, in 1932, she saw George V personally visit Westminster Abbey to distribute Maundy coins, which are unique coins made and distributed to persons who are believed to deserve public acknowledgment for their work.
He did not wash anyone's feet, which has been the responsibility of clerics since the Middle Ages.
However, George understood the historical significance of the event, adding that "James II was the last King who performed the rite in 1685."
Although it was George V's only such ceremony, the House of Windsor found it appealing, possibly because it highlighted the monarch's link as Supreme Governor with both the Church of England and the people.
And, in a visual age when the press and later broadcasters were looking for ceremonial images to impart to their readers and viewers, it made for interesting photographs.
Even Edward VIII performed the Maundy ritual throughout his one-year reign, while George VI participated irregularly, his attendance frequently interrupted by military duties.
However, it was Elizabeth II, one of the most passionately devout rulers in the country's history, who elevated it to the pinnacle of her reign.
She attended the Maundy service almost every year of her reign, and decided that it should no longer be held in a church convenient for the monarch - such as St George's Chapel, Windsor, or Westminster Abbey - but should be taken around Britain to different cathedrals, so that people in different parts of the country could be recognised through Maundy gifts for their service.
Just like her grandpa, uncle, and father had done before her, she gave each man and woman chosen for each year of her life two small red and white leather bags loaded with Maundy coins.
They are carried on unique silver dishes fashioned during Charles II's reign and stored with the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London.
Every year, as a nod to the Coronation and its themes of service, Handel's epic anthem, Zadok the Priest, is played while the presents are distributed.
In 2022, Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, deputised for his elderly and ailing mother, Elizabeth II.
Last year, as King, he made his first Maundy distribution in York Minster, accompanied by Camilla.
Camilla will now lead the service in Worcester, while the King withdraws from public appearances due to cancer treatment.
With Prince William, the heir to the throne, focusing on Kate and their children as she receives chemotherapy, the Queen will bear the brunt of the responsibility for the grand Maundy ritual, as she does for so much else right now.
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