A very royal occasion! Members of the royal family — 53 in total! — attended the annual National Service of Thanksgiving at St. Paul’s Cathedral on Friday, June 10. The event honored Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday, though she officially celebrated the milestone birthday on April 21.
The British monarch, clad in a yellow Angela Kelly outfit, arrived with her husband, Prince Philip, about 11 minutes late due to London traffic. The service also fell on the same day as Philip’s 95th birthday, and they marked the occasion with traditional gun salutes.
Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, joined the Queen for the engagement, as did Prince Harry, Prince William and Duchess Kate, who stunned in a light blue Catherine Walker coat and Jane Taylor hat. Prince George, 2, and Princess Charlotte, 13 months, stayed home and were not present for the ceremony. The youngest attending royal was Queen Elizabeth’s youngest grandchild, 8-year-old James, Viscount Severn, the son of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.
Other members of the extended royal family also attended the big day, including Prince Andrew the Duke of York, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie of York, the Earl and Countess of Wessex, the Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, the Princess Royal (a.k.a. Princess Anne) and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, and the Duke and Duchess of Kent.
During the service, British Prime Minister David Cameron read from the New Testament, and the Archbishop of Canterbury preached the sermon.
The birthday celebrations just keep continuing for the Queen with a full weekend of engagements. Her majesty will later be honored on Saturday, June 11, at the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony, and at the Patron’s Lunch on Sunday, June 12.
The royal family previously celebrated the Queen’s birthday in May with a two-hour event that was televised live in the U.K. Kensington Palace also released new portraits of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in honor of her 90th birthday, taken by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz.
