Royal diary: What's coming up this week
The Queen, Princess Anne and Prince Edward have outings before Easter
Firstly, I wanted to start this post by saying that our thoughts are with the Princess of Wales and her family following the announcement about her cancer diagnosis on Friday.
The Queen, the Princess Royal and the Duke of Edinburgh are among the royals who will be stepping out for public engagements this week, ahead of the Easter Sunday church service.
It’s understood that the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children will not be in attendance at the service in Windsor.
Monday
The Princess Royal and the Duke of Edinburgh will both be in Scotland, carrying out separate engagements.
Princess Anne will be in Dumfries, where her outings include a visit to the Lockerbie Air Disaster Memorial and later a reception in Glasgow for the charity, Friends of TS Queen Mary.
Meanwhile, Prince Edward will visit Macrobert Trust and Douneside House as well as Westhill Men’s Shed in Aberdeenshire.
Tuesday
The Queen will host a reception at Clarence House to mark the results of the Queen’s Reading Room study into the effects of reading on wellbeing.
Princess Anne will continue her run of engagements in Scotland, including a trip to the Saving Wildcats Project at Highland Wildlife Park in Inverness in her role as patron of The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.
Wednesday
The Queen will be in Shrewsbury, Shropshire where she will tour Shrewsbury Farmers’ Market and the recently restored Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings, which is a Historic England flagship heritage.
Meanwhile, Princess Anne will visit businesses in Country Durham.
Thursday
Queen Camilla will distribute the Royal Maundy gifts on behalf of His Majesty The King at the annual Royal Maundy Service at Worcester Cathedral in the heart of the West Midlands.
And for a little bit of background on the service - Maundy Thursday always takes place on the Thursday before Easter Sunday, and every year the monarch gives out special silver coins to pensioners from across the UK.
During the service, the sovereign typically distributes gifts according to the number of years they have lived, so this year there will be 75 men and 75 women, signifying the King’s current age.
The recipients are nominated by their local dioceses in recognition of their contributions to their local church and community.
Friday
On Good Friday, there will be celebrations for Peter Phillips and his ex-wife, Autumn, as their youngest daughter, Isla, turns 12.
Sunday
The royals will attend the Easter Sunday church service in the private chapel at St George’s Chapel with the family making the customary walk down from Windsor Castle.
The order of arrival is usually in reverse precedence, with the most senior royals arriving last.