The Queen attends christening of two new royal great-grandchildren despite health worries

The Queen attended the joint Christening of two of her new great-grandchildren, August and Lucas, after being forced to cancel royal engagements due to health woes.

• The Queen has been blessed with four new great-grandchildren this year and this weekend was able to attend the christening of two. 
• Despite her recent health struggles, Her Majesty was able to attend the joint christening of baby Lucas and baby August. 
• This royal news (opens in new tab) comes after it was reported that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will not join the Queen for her first Christmas without Prince Philip (opens in new tab).

The Queen and several members of The Firm (opens in new tab) attended the double christening of Princess Eugenie's son, August Philip Hawke (opens in new tab) and Zara Tindall’s son Lucas (opens in new tab). It was a historic day for the royal family, as a double royal christening is very rare.

The christening went ahead after Princess Eugenie and husband Jack Brooksbank were forced to postpone August’s christening earlier in the year, due to Covid restrictions.

Zara Tindall (opens in new tab) and her husband Mike Tindall welcomed baby Lucas back in March, weeks after Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank welcomed baby August.

The Queen also became a great-grandmother to two great-granddaughters this year, with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry welcoming Lilibet Diana in June and Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi welcoming their first child, baby Sienna, in September.

The Queen was thankfully able to attend the double christening of her two new great-grandsons, despite growing fears for her health and suffering from a back sprain (opens in new tab).

It was reported by The Sun (opens in new tab) that the Queen would decide on the day if she would attend, after hearing advice from doctors on whether she was well enough to go. 

The christening was held at All Saints Chapel in Great Windsor Park, Berkshire, and was an intimate family day, with close members of the family in attendance including Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Her Majesty would not have wanted to miss out on such a historic day as royal commentator Penny Junor remarks that a double royal christening is "unheard of".

She told the Metro (opens in new tab), ‘I’ve never heard of two royal babies being christened together like this but it will be wonderful to have the Queen there. It would also send a fantastic message to the world that she is not ready to leave us yet.

Penny added, "She’s very spiritual, a christening is a very important occasion for the head of the Church of England, and being there will be of great importance to her."