King Charles Marks 1st Mother’s Day Since Queen Elizabeth’s Death

Remembering his mom. King Charles III celebrated his first U.K. Mother’s Day since his mother Queen Elizabeth II’s passing in a bittersweet way.

One day ahead of the Sunday, March 19, holiday, the monarch, 74, shared a sweet post via Twitter. “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,” he posted from the royal family’s official Twitter account. The post also featured two photos, one of Charles with his late mother, as well as one of his wife, Queen Consort Camilla Parker Bowles, with her mother, Rosalind Shand, taken before she died at the age of 72 in 1994.

Prince William also showed love for his wife, Princess Kate, via social media. On Sunday, the Duke of Cambridge, 40, posted an adorable pic of Kate, 41, posing in a tree alongside their kids — Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 7, and Prince Louis, 4 — captioned, “Happy Mother’s Day from our family to yours.”

The holiday comes six months after the queen died at the age of 96 on September 8, 2022. Earlier that day, Buckingham Palace announced she was being placed under “medical supervision” after choosing not to attend multiple public appearances.

“The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,” the palace said in a statement announcing the news. “The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.”

Not long after, Charles broke his silence in a statement of his own. “The death of my beloved mother, Her Majesty The Queen, is a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family,” the King of England wrote at the time. “We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished Sovereign and a much-loved Mother. I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world.”

The monarch continued: “During this period of mourning and change, my family and I will be comforted and sustained by our knowledge of respect and deep affection in which The Queen was so widely held.”

Assuming the throne upon her death, Charles was officially declared king during an ascension ceremony on September 10, 2022, at St. James’ Palace in London. The queen’s funeral was held days later on September 19.

Mother’s Day isn’t the first holiday the royals have celebrated without the country’s former monarch. Ahead of their Christmas celebrations, an insider exclusively told Us Weekly that the royal family would be “extremely sad not to have the queen there” for the festive holiday in December 2022. At the same time, the source noted that they were aware the queen “would not want them to mope or let that detract everyone from coming together and enjoying the occasion.”

Charles spoke of his mother during his televised Christmas Day speech to the country. “I am standing here in this exquisite Chapel of St. George at Windsor Castle, so close to where my beloved mother, the late Queen, is laid to rest with my dear father,” His Majesty said during the broadcast. “I am reminded of the deeply touching letters, cards and messages which so many of you have sent my wife and myself and I cannot thank you enough for the love and sympathy you have shown our whole family.”

He went on to add: “Christmas is a particularly poignant time for all of us who have lost loved ones. We feel their absence at every familiar turn of the season and remember them in each cherished tradition. … In the much-loved carol ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem,’ we sing of how ‘in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light.’ My mother’s belief in the power of that light was an essential part of her faith in God, but also her faith in people — and it is one which I share with my whole heart.”