The Royal Family upholds so many traditions that it can be hard to keep up sometimes. Now, one of these time-honored traditions is changing slightly: Where the Westminster Abbey bells would typically ring for the birthdays of senior royals including Kate Middleton and Camilla Parker-Bowles, the Abbey will now follow a more spartan bell-ringing schedule.
According to Hello!, the bells haven't been rung at Westminster Abbey—where Kate Middleton and Prince William got married—since April 2020, because of the pandemic. The ringing is set to resume in September, but will no longer mark the birthdays of Princess Ann, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, nor that of their children George, Charlotte and Louis.
"The Abbey bells can be heard ringing out before services and in celebration of church festivals," a representative for Westminster Abbey told the outlet. "The bells have also traditionally been rung to mark the birthdays of senior members of the Royal Family. Due to the financial challenges posed to the Abbey by the Covid-19 pandemic, and in consultation with Buckingham Palace, the bells will now ring only for the birthdays of HM The Queen and HRH The Prince of Wales."
To be fair, ringing the bells for that many people was probably a bit of a headache to begin with. On Jan. 9, 2022, Kate Middleton will just have to ~ring~ in her 40th birthday in a quieter fashion. Perhaps she might even take a page out of her sister-in-law Meghan Markle's book and launch a charity initiative for the occasion? Only time will tell.
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