Prince William honoured with touching birthday gift from royals as he rings in 41
The future King received a special birthday tribute only awarded to the most senior members of the Firm as he celebrated turning 41 on June 21.
Prince William visits The Royal Marsden hospital
Prince William turned 41 today and to celebrate in style the bells of Westminster Abbey rang out for the first time to mark his birthday. Once a commonplace royal tradition, the bells now only ring for the birthdays of the four most senior royals, William and his wife Kate, Princess of Wales and King Charles and Queen Camilla.
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In the past few years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and financial constraints, the ringing of the bells for royal birthdays has been stripped back.
Prior to 2020, they rang for 12 royal birthdays, those of Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip and their four children Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, as well as the then-Duchess of Cornwall Camilla, Prince William and Kate and their three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
In 2022, they only rang for two royal birthdays, those of the late Queen and now-King Charles.
Now they will be rung four times a year, with the bells last being heard for Kate's 41st birthday on January 9 and they are set to ring again on July 17 and November 14 for the Queen and King's respective birthdays.
Westminster Abbey tweeted to mark the occasion: "Wishing HRH The Prince of Wales a very happy birthday today!
"The Abbey bell ringers are ringing 541 changes of Stedman Caters followed by a course of London Surprise Royal in celebration."
They shared the birthday message alongside a two-minute video of the bells ringing out to celebrate the future monarch's big day.
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King Charles also posted a sweet birthday message for his eldest son as he shared a picture on Twitter of the two taken at his Coronation last month.
The picture shows a sweet moment between father and son as William appears to be helping Charles fix his Coronation attire.
The post was captioned: "Wishing The Prince of Wales a very happy birthday today!" followed by a balloon emoji.
A recent royal social media precedent revealed that birthday messages would only be posted for working royals, meaning neither Prince Harry nor Meghan Markle will receive one when they celebrate their birthdays later this year.