Queen Elizabeth Remembered on U.K. Mother’s Day in Throwback Royal Family Photo Shared by King Charles
King Charles is honoring the late Queen Elizabeth on U.K. Mother’s Day.
On Sunday, March 30, King Charles, 76, shared a throwback photo of him as a child with his mother Queen Elizabeth — who died in September 2022 at age 96 — on the Royal Family’s official Instagram.
The black-and-white photo showed then Prince Charles as a boy sitting next to Queen Elizabeth as the pair leaned in towards each other while reading a book. A young Princess Anne sat on the other side of the late queen.
“Wishing all mothers, and those who are missing theirs today, a peaceful Mothering Sunday,” the post’s caption read. “A young Prince Charles (now The King) and Princess Anne attend the Royal Windsor Horse Show with The late Queen Elizabeth in 1956.”
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King Charles has continued to honor his late mother Queen Elizabeth every Mother’s Day following her death in 2022. In 2024, the King’s office shared another throwback photo of Charles and Queen Elizabeth, kissing his mother’s hand after a polo match in Windsor in 1985.
King Charles acceded to the throne upon his mother’s death on Sept. 8, 2022, and he celebrated the love she had for her family in his first speech as sovereign the next day.
“Throughout her life, Her Majesty The Queen – my beloved Mother – was an inspiration and example to me and to all my family, and we owe her the most heartfelt debt any family can owe to their mother; for her love, affection, guidance, understanding and example. Queen Elizabeth was a life well lived; a promise with destiny kept and she is mourned most deeply in her passing,” he said, nodding to a pledge she made and her record 70-year reign. “That promise of lifelong service I renew to you all today.”
The royal family marked its first Mothering Sunday without Queen Elizabeth in March 2023 and the King’s team honored the late Queen Elizabeth and Queen Camilla’s late mother in its signature tribute.
“To all mothers everywhere, and to those who may be missing their mums today, we are thinking of you and wishing you a special #MothersDay,” the message said.
The Instagram carousel opened with a picture of then-Princess Elizabeth holding a baby Charles in her lap, following an undated shot of Queen Camilla smiling beside her mother Roslind Shand. Rosalind died in 1994 at age 72 from osteoporosis, which her daughter said was never diagnosed.
“My mother died of osteoporosis, not of the actual disease, it was never diagnosed in those days, and old people were just cast aside as old people, you know, ‘Sorry, we can’t do anything about it,’ ” Queen Camilla said at a reception connected to the Royal Osteoporosis Society she backs as patron in October 2024, the BBC reported via PA. “Had she lived nowadays a lot would have been done about it.”
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Camilla has made raising awareness about the bone disease a pillar of her royal platform in the years since. The Royal Osteoporosis Society was her first patronage and she has served as its president since 2001.