https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10881529/Queens-Platinum-Jubilee-thanksgiving-service-held-St-Pauls-Cathedral.htmlHarry and Meghan are reunited with the Royal Family as they arrive at St Paul's for Platinum Jubilee thanksgiving service - but the Queen is forced to watch at home on TV
Prince Charles will officially represent the 96-year-old monarch at the service in London this morning
It will also be attended by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for first joint royal engagement in two years
Queen will miss the event following after she experienced 'discomfort' at Trooping The Colour yesterday
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By Mark Duell and Harry Howard For Mailonline and Rebecca English, Royal Editor For The Daily Mail
Published: 10:42, 3 June 2022 | Updated: 11:24, 3 June 2022
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrived at St Paul's Cathedral today for the Service of Thanksgiving for the Queen, who is watching on television from Windsor Castle after she was forced to pull out last night. Prince Charles is officially representing the 96-year-old monarch at the service in London this morning, which is also being attended by Harry and Meghan for their first joint royal engagement in more than two years. But the Queen will miss the event following a last-minute decision announced by Buckingham Palace at 7.30pm yesterday after she experienced 'discomfort' during Trooping The Colour events earlier in the day. There will also be no appearance at St Paul's from Prince Andrew after he tested positive for coronavirus. The Queen will be watching the service from her Berkshire residence, and it will be broadcast nationally on BBC One. Political guests arrived ahead of the royals, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie, former prime minister Sir Tony Blair and his wife Cherie, Sir John Major and other ex-prime ministers Gordon Brown, Theresa May and David Cameron, and their spouses. Cabinet ministers Sajid Javid and Liz Truss were also there. Soon after, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon arrived with her husband, and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. Members of the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force lined up on either side of the Great West Door. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex had seats in the second row of the congregation, with Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and their husbands, and Lady Sarah Chatto, the daughter of Princess Margaret, and her family. Harry and Meghan were seated behind the Earl and Countess of Wessex who are in the front row with their children, Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and Viscount Severn, and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. Across the aisle, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, who have ornate chairs, had seats alongside them for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Princess Royal and her husband, Vice Admiral Tim Laurence. Earlier, a member of the Royal Air Force in the military guard of honour lining the steps to St Paul's collapsed, but was able to get to his feet and was helped away. Then, a second member of the military personnel also collapsed, but was also able to get to his feet and was helped away on foot, despite a stretcher being brought out. The Queen is understood to have had episodic mobility issues yesterday and, in a statement, Buckingham Palace revealed the Queen 'greatly enjoyed' her birthday parade and flypast but 'did experience some discomfort'. It said: 'Taking into account the journey and activity required to participate in tomorrow's National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral, Her Majesty, with great reluctance, has concluded that she will not attend.'
It is understood the decision ahead of the service, which begins at 11.30am today, was considered regrettable but sensible due to the length of the journey and time involved and the physical demands the service would require. Senior members of the monarchy attending this morning also include the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who will be joined by the extended royal family. Tributes will be paid to the Queen's '70 years of faithful and dedicated service' in front of 2,000 people including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Cabinet ministers, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and former prime ministers. Public service is the theme at the heart of the religious event, with 400 people who are recipients of honours, including NHS and key workers who were recognised for their work during the pandemic, invited. The Archbishop of York, the Most Rev Stephen Cottrell, will deliver the sermon to the congregation after stepping in at the 11th hour after the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, contracted Covid-19. Hundreds of people gathered outside St Paul's, some wearing Union flag hats and others hanging flags and bunting over the railings on the approach to the cathedral and many guests had their photographs taken outside the Great West Door, where members of the Royal family are also due to enter the cathedral for the event. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan was cheered as he passed by the crowds already amassing outside, although the numbers appeared to be smaller than those seen at the Trooping the Colour festivities yesterday. Today will be a first joint engagement with senior royals for Meghan and Harry since the frosty Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey in March 2020 shortly before they officially stepped down as senior royals. And while the couple are set to remain below radar in public, the Queen had lunch with them and other senior royals behind closed doors yesterday and also met her great-granddaughter Lilibet for the first time. The Sussexes introduced their little girl to the Queen nicknamed Lilibet as a child - yesterday at Windsor after attending a private Royal Family lunch at Buckingham Palace following Trooping the Colour. Harry and Meghan are expected to remain mostly low-profile over the four-day Jubilee weekend, with no sign of the Netflix cameras that followed them around at the Invictus Games in the Netherlands in April. The Sussexes, who are staying at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor while visiting from California, were not allowed on the Buckingham Palace balcony yesterday and instead watched proceedings from Horse Guards Parade. Meanwhile key workers, charity volunteers and members of the armed forces have been invited to the Queen's service of thanksgiving at St Paul's today in recognition of their contribution to public life. More than 400 people, who have been making a difference either nationally or locally, are among the guests and many have been working tirelessly during the pandemic. They will join members of the royal family at St Paul's Cathedral to celebrate the monarch's 70-year reign, although the Queen herself will not attend after experiencing 'some discomfort' during Thursday's events following previous mobility issues. The Bishop of London said today that she is 'excited' ahead of the thanksgiving service. Rt Revd and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally, who will be leading the blessing at St Paul's, told BBC Breakfast: 'I'm excited, I think.'
She added that she was nervous about the ceremonial regalia she needs to wear. 'It's a coat called the George V coat. 'It's quite an old coat, which is a cape and it sits on me, but of course it was designed for men because I'm the first woman who happens to be the Bishop of London,' she said. 'So, it doesn't sit quite as well on me, so I'm slightly nervous.'
She said that Her Majesty's Christian faith has 'always shaped her' and she feels privileged to play a part in the service and 'give thanks' to The Queen for her service to the country. And the Dean of St Paul's said today's thanksgiving service represents the nation 'picking up the baton' from The Queen as a thank you for her years of service.
The Very Revd Dr David Ison told BBC Breakfast: 'I think, for me, what this service is about, is saying not only thank you, but also we are picking up the baton of what The Queen has done. We ourselves are committing to how we can make the world a better place.'
He said of the service: 'I always get nervous. You can't help it because you want it to go well and therefore you're nervous to make sure it does goes well and worried about what might go wrong.'
He also spoke about an incident during the Queen's Diamond Jubilee when his cape ripped. 'I put on my cape and I was bounding down the stairs of the vestry and I caught the cape on the door latch and ripped it and this is in the afternoon, before the service. So, they had an emergency embroiderer who came in early in the morning to stitch it back up again.'
Later, Dr David will say in The Bidding: 'We come together in this Cathedral Church today to offer to God our thanks and praise for the reign of Her Majesty the Queen and especially for her 70 years of faithful and dedicated service. As we gather from communities across her realm and the Commonwealth of Nations, we rejoice in the diverse and varied lives of all those whom she serves, and in the beauty and abundance of the world in which we live. Inspired by words and music, we pray that God will continue to bless and guide Her Majesty, and that we may all receive grace to honour life and to live in harmony with one another; and we continue to pray for those whose lives are marred by conflict, suffering and tragedy. And mindful of the call of God to look to the needs of others, we commit ourselves afresh to caring for our world and all for whom it is home, striving always to seek out and nurture that which is good in people and in all creation.'
Those invited in recognition of their service have all been recipients of honours in the New Year or Birthday Honours lists and their number also includes public servants and representatives from social enterprises and voluntary groups. Boris Johnson, who will give a New Testament reading, and members of his Cabinet are among the guests along with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, first ministers of the devolved governments and former prime ministers. The diplomatic world will be represented by high commissioners and ambassadors from across the world and also attending are governors general and clergy from world faiths. The Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell will give the sermon after the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby tested positive for Covid-19. The Dean of the Chapel Royal, Dame Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London, will give the Collect and the Blessing, and the Dean of St Paul's will conduct the service. Young people representing countries where the Queen is head of state will lead the 'Act of Commitment' celebrating the life and reign of the monarch, led by the Reverend Robert Kozak. During the day, one of the country's largest bells, the Great Paul, will be rung before and after the service, the first time it will have been heard at a royal occasion. The event will feature a new anthem by Judith Weir, Master of the Queen's Music, that sets to music words from the third Chapter of the Book of Proverbs. Bible readings, hymns and prayers to express thankfulness for the Queen's reign, faith and service will also be heard by the congregation as the nation marks the monarch's 70 years on the throne. Before the service begins, the Band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines Portsmouth (Royal Band), will play as the congregation arrives and the State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry will perform to mark royal arrivals, while the Fanfare Trumpeters of the Central Band of the Royal Air Force will accompany later in the service. The choirs of St Paul's Cathedral and Her Majesty's Chapel Royal will join together to sing the Vivats, I Was Glad by Sir Hubert Parry, performed at every coronation and now for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. News of the Queen's meeting with Lilibet yesterday which comes ahead of her first birthday tomorrow was revealed on BBC Breakfast this morning by royal commentator Omid Scobie, who is friendly with the Sussexes. He said: 'I think people are expecting some sort of big birthday extravagant event, that we're going to see photographs from. From what I'm told, we shouldn't expect anything. Those moments with Lilibet are very much private between them and the Queen and of course we know how much she's been looking forward to it. They've been held back by a pandemic. Of course the times that Harry has been here it's just been by himself for quite sombre occasions. And so this really was the first time. Of course we know the Queen went back to Windsor Castle yesterday, the couple went back to Windsor as well where they're staying at Frogmore Cottage. So that would have been the first moment or the first chance for her to meet her namesake.'
Yesterday, Harry and Meghan made a concerted effort not to be seen by prying eyes as they watched Trooping the Colour yesterday, arriving incognito at Horse Guards Parade and studiously keeping away from most although not all of the waiting photographers. The couple arrived in the UK on Wednesday afternoon, flying in by private jet from Los Angeles to Farnborough Airport in Hampshire, where they were picked up by royal bodyguards and taken to Frogmore Cottage. Yesterday a Range Rover with a modest escort swept them into Central London and onto Whitehall, where they took up position in the Major General's Office overlooking the parade ground ready for the other royals to arrive. Among the first to greet them were Princess Beatrice and her husband, Edo, as well as the Queen's grandson Peter Phillips. Meghan was seen kissing his elder daughter, Savannah, 11, as his younger daughter, Isla, 10, held Zara and Mike Tindall's younger daughter Lena, almost four. As Princess Beatrice's husband, Edo Mapelli-Mozzi, looked on, Meghan, 40, appeared to be sharing a secret with the youngsters, who were joined by the Tindalls' eldest daughter Mia, eight. Meghan, wearing a large wide-brimmed navy and white hat, put her finger mysteriously to her lips as the girls mimicked her, laughing. Her husband, Harry, 37, who looked tanned in a lounge suit rather than military uniform, was also seen later entering into the spirit of things, apparently urging Lena to 'shush'. The couple were later seen chatting to the Queen's cousin, the Duke of Kent, 86, before he left the family gathering to join the monarch at Buckingham Palace, where they took the returning military salute together. Last month Buckingham Palace revealed that the Queen had personally decided to only invite working members of the Royal Family and some of their children onto the Buckingham Palace balcony with her. This neatly sidestepped the tricky issue about what to do with Harry, Meghan and Andrew who have all quit royal duties. But while Andrew wasn't invited to join the family following his shaming over his links to billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, she did extend an olive branch to the Sussexes to join other family members at Horse Guards to watch the parade from the windows of the Duke of Wellington's old office. Those on the Buckingham Palace balcony also included the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duchess of Cambridge and her three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis after they had arrived by carriage along with the Earl and Countess of Wessex and their two children, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and Princess Anne's husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence. Princess Alexandra, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent were also present as well as the children of Princess Margaret, Lord Snowden and Lady Sarah Chatto, and their families. As for Harry and Meghan, Mr Scobie told BBC Breakfast today that he 'spoke to people close to the couple' who said that the couple 'wanted to be as low profile as possible during this trip'.
He continued: 'It is almost hard to believe, but I think that yesterday at Trooping the Colour was a great example. We didn't really catch sight of them on TV cameras. There were a few grainy photos of them in existence online but that is about as far as it goes. And for them being here is all about honouring and really celebrating the life and legacy of the Queen. Someone that they have continued a very warm and close relationship with. Of course we know that is not the same with the other family members and today will be very interesting to see them alongside some of them. I was with the couple on their last day in the UK, on Meghan's last engagement, and of course we remember they also went on to that Westminster Abbey Commonwealth service. Very awkward moments between the Sussexes and the Cambridges. It was almost sort of at the peak of the tensions between them and the institutions of the monarchy. A lot of that has softened since then. It doesn't mean that the relationships have necessarily gotten back on track to how they once were. I think all eyes will be on them today just to see how they all are with the other members of the family. But of course everyone is here to celebrate the faith, the reign and the lifetime of service of the Queen. And I think for them, despite the fact that they broke away from the firm, they always said that they had carried out their work. Holding, upholding the same principles and values as Her Majesty.'
However, royal expert Angela Levin told Talk TV: 'I felt when I saw them 'what are you doing here, you are irrelevant, why are you here? I was very angry when they wound the window down of their car.’
She added: 'My instinct was that 'what are you doing here'. I don't think you can trash someone and then turn up with smiles.'