A number of senior royals are set to miss out on a birthday tradition next year, including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and their children.
Westminster Abbey is changing its bell-ringing schedule for 2022 and going forward, will only carry on the tradition for the Queen and the Prince of Wales‘s birthdays.
Traditionally, all four of the monarch’s children, Princess Royal, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex, would have received the honour, as well as the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
A spokesperson for Westminster Abbey told HELLO!: “The Abbey bells can be heard ringing out before services and in celebration of church festivals. The bells have also traditionally been rung to mark the birthdays of senior members of the Royal Family.
“Due to the financial challenges posed to the Abbey by the Covid-19 pandemic, and in consultation with Buckingham Palace, the bells will now ring only for the birthdays of HM The Queen and HRH The Prince of Wales.”
Bell ringing at Westminster Abbey has been suspended due to the pandemic since April 2020, but Charles will be the next royal to receive the honour on his 73rd birthday on 14 November.
In line with the new royal rules for next year, the schedule does not include Kate’s birthday in January nor Prince Andrew’s in February.
Following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh in April, Abbey’s tenor bell tolled 99 times, once for each year of his life.
Westminster has also played host to royal weddings, including Prince William and Kate Middleton’s in 2011, Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips in 1973, and the Queen and Prince Philip’s in 1947.
