The tradition of the royal maundy seems to date beck to the early 13th century when in remembrance of Jesus Christ’s actions at the last supper the monarch washed the feet of the poor. He also gave them a gift of money. Henry IV in the following century seems to have begun the tradition which relates the number of recipients to the monarch’s age.
In the 18th century monarchs stopped washing the feet and in the 19th century, the gift of money was replaced by gifts of food and clothes,
The giving of a ceremonial set of silver coins to each recipient dates back to Charles II in 1662 and continues to this day. Each year a special set of silver 1,2,3 and 4 penny coins are minted for the Queen to distribute to a group of men and women, the number of each are equivalent to her age,
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