The Queen Celebrates Maundy Thursday
England Once Again Engages In A Grand Old Tradition
This year on the eve of Good Friday, Queen Elizabeth II will once again observe Maundy Thursday with a historic ritual as the Lenten season comes to a close. As the traditional celebration travels to St. Edmondsbury Cathedral located in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, her majesty will greet one hundred sixty-six recipients and bestow upon them the commemorative Maundy coins.
The History Of Maundy Thursday Celebrations
Maundy Thursday takes its name from the term mandatum, meaning “to give” and is derived from the biblical story of the Last Supper which took place on the eve of Good Friday. In the ever-traditionalist country of England, the ceremonial passing of coins from the reigning monarch to those in his/her realm is still a much admired custom. Embellished over the years, the current Maundy ceremony has all the pomp and circumstance expected of the British Monarchy and royal watchers are assured not to be let down.
It has been said that the tradition of giving money to the poor began with St. Augustine in 597 AD, although history has recorded the earliest event being when King John (1199-1216) donated silver coins to the poor in a ceremony dated 1210 at Knaresborough, Yorkshire. However, it wasn’t until the reign of King Edward II (1307-1327) that the monarchs began the annual ritual that is still observed today. It was with Edward that the tradition of washing the feet of the poor began, to replicate the actions of Jesus washing the feet of his Disciples during the Last Supper, and that tradition continued until the late seventeenth century, ending with King James II. Following a gap spanning the years of 1698-1931 in which the sovereigns did not take part in the actual ceremony, King George V resumed the tradition of the monarch partaking in the distribution of coins to a designated number of recipients.
Customs Of Maundy Thursday Celebrations
The custom of the event is that the reigning monarch will hand out ten pence in coins to the number of beneficiaries that equal the number of his/her age. These select few can only attend a Maundy ceremony once in a lifetime. In the past, the recipients were only permitted to be the same sex as the current sovereign, however during the reign of William and Mary (1688-1694) allocations were made for each sex. This year, Queen Elizabeth II is eighty-three and thus she distribute coins to eighty-three men and eighty-three women who have been chosen in “recognition of the service to their community and their church”. Those fortunate individuals are selected by the officials of the cathedral at St. Edmundsbury.
Coins are made exclusively to commemorate the occasion and like the normal coinage they are minted displaying the image of the reigning monarch, with the rare exception of those distributed in 1936. That year, the coins were produced still bearing the likeness of King George V, but were distributed by King Edward VIII prior to his impending coronation. As history remembers, Edward VIII would abdicate the throne before his coronation, and therefore be the only monarch to not boast his semblance on the commemorative coins.
Up until 1822, common coinage was used for the Maundy celebration. At that time, King George IV minted the first set of commemorative coins which are still considered legal tender and are worth their equivalent value in today’s decimalization system. During the reign of Henry VIII, all coins of the realm were debased and eventually reduced to only fifty percent silver by the early twentieth century. It wasn’t until the Coinage Act of 1946 that the sterling silver standard was resumed. The coins used this year bear the likeness of Queen Elizabeth II from her coronation in 1953, although traditional coinage has been updated with a more current profile. In holding with tradition, they will be made from sterling silver.
For all of Great Britain's hearty traditions, biblical rituals such as Maundy Thursday are always assured to receive high attention to detail. Although ten pence from the Queen is a nominal gift, the acknowledgement of the monarch to her people still brings out the feeling of hope and good will to those in her realm.
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