Pomp & Ceremony
Eight Windsor Grey horses gracefully pulling the gilded four-ton State Coach; a sorrowful bugle call of The Last Post soaring through London’s silent streets; a riot of military drums conjuring up the patriotic spirit of a nation at war: time your visit to Britain with one of many royal ceremonies and these unique sights and sounds will bring our nation’s rich military, religious and political history to life.
The year’s first major royal ceremony is Royal Maundy. This religious service takes place on Maundy Thursday, a name that derives from the Latin word for command – mandatum – and refers to the instruction to “love one another” that Christ gave his disciples after washing their feet at the Last Supper. By the 5th century AD, church leaders were honouring this act by washing the feet of the poor, while records indicate that King John was the first British monarch to give alms at a Maundy service.
During the modern-day equivalent, Her Majesty the
