Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Friday, 18 April 2025

The Royal Maundy at Durham Cathedral


Yesterday the King and Queen went to Durham Cathedral for the Royal Maundy Service. His Majesty is continuing his mother’s custom of taking the ceremony to cathedrals across the country rather than just holding it in London or Windsor.

Unfortunately the service is rarely televised often televised beyond a short clip on the news about a Royal visit rather than as part of a living tradition of the monarchy. I recall watching on occasions when it was televised when the late Queen distributed the Maundy purses in Durham fifty years ago, and her visits to do so at Winchester in 1979 and St David’s in 1982. 

Now, with the development of a much wider range of media transmission, the Service yesterday can be seen in a shortened form on the Royal Family Channel at King Presents Maundy Money at Royal Maundy Service at Durham Cathedral



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