This September marks two years since King Charles ascended the throne following the death of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II. To mark the anniversary, Queen Camilla joined the 75-year-old for a small service at Crathie Kirk on the Balmoral Estate.

For the occasion, His Majesty was seen in a charcoal gray jacket with a pink flower label while The Queen wore a green jacket with red and green tartan lapels. Rev Kenneth MacKenzie, who ministered The Late Queen Elizabeth II in her final days led the service. Rt Rev Dr Shaw Peterson, who was a guest preacher at the service, described the anniversary as “particularly significant and poignant for the royal family.”

Not only did the service mark a sombre anniversary, but it was also a time for new beginnings as a hymn commissioned by His Majesty for Crathie Kirk made its public debut.

The piece, which is called “Crathie,’ was composed by Professor Paul Mealor who has dealt a hand in music for other royal occasions. This includes a song for the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 2011. He also contributed to lyrics to the traditional hymn ‘Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing’ for The King’s Coronation in May 2023.

Mealor said of the significance of the church: “This place here, Crathie, is such a glorious place. It’s had a huge history of the Royal family right back to Queen Victoria, and it’s not got its own hymn. Well, now it does.”

The family’s connection to Crathie Kirk runs deep as it’s where The Princess Royal married her second husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence in 1992. This is also where many members of the Royal Family sought solace during a prayer service two days after The Queen passed on 8 September 2022.

Social media posts from official Royal Family accounts and other notable figures flooded websites as they remembered Her Late Majesty. The official X account of the Royal Family posted a tribute with a photo of The Late Queen at a Buckingham Palace garden party in the summer of 2019.