Prince Harry and Meghan Join Royals at Thanksgiving Service as Prince Charles Represents the Queen

Yesterday evening, Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen would not be attending the Platinum Jubilee Thanksgiving Service as she had experienced "some discomfort" during Trooping the Colour earlier in the day. And today, Prince Charles represented her at St Paul's Cathedral as members of the royal family gathered for the service on the second day of the jubilee celebrations.

Prince Harry and Meghan joined royals arriving at the Great West Door of the central London cathedral ahead of the 11:30 a.m. 45-minute service. It was the first time that the couple has been photographed clearly together alongside the family since arriving in the U.K. for the Platinum Jubilee. While they attended Trooping the Colour yesterday, they were largely out of sight and were only seen briefly through the windows of the Major General's office at the parade ground.

Harry and Meghan arrived just after 11 a.m. and took their seats on the second row alongside Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and their husbands, and Princess Margaret's daughter Sarah Chatto. Also present at the service were family members including the Wessexes and their children, Princess Anne, Zara and Mike Tindall and Zara's brother Peter Phillips as well as more extended relatives including Lady Gabriella Windsor and her husband Tom Kingston.

At 11:15 a.m. Prince William and Kate arrived and Prince Charles and Camilla made their entrance at 11:20 a.m. The four senior working royals processed together to take their seats following a fanfare. It was the procession the Queen would have taken part in had she been able to attend. A royal source confirmed that the 96-year-old Queen was watching on television from Windsor Castle after authorizing her aides to announce yesterday evening that she would not be attending. Also notably absent was Prince Andrew, following the Palace's announcement yesterday that he had tested positive for COVID so would not be present.

She had very much hoped to be at St Paul's, which had been earmarked as one of the events throughout the weekend that she would try to go to despite her struggles with mobility. However, in the same way that she has had to pull out of a spate of events in the past few months, she regretfully decided that the demands of the event would prove too challenging.

Some 2,000 guests were invited to the service today which included bible readings, anthems, prayers which the cathedral said in a statement were to "express thankfulness for yhe Queen's reign, faith and service; desire to foster unity and peace amongst all peoples; and commitment to care for God's creation."

A new anthem by Judith Weir, Master of the Queen's Music, had also been composed specially for the moment. There is still no word on when we can next expect to see the Queen throughout her Platinum Jubilee celebrations and she is not expected to attend the Epsom Derby or the concert outside the Palace tomorrow. There is the possibility, however, that she could appear in some capacity on Sunday, perhaps on the Buckingham Palace balcony, although nothing has been announced.

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