The BBC will not broadcast the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey for the first time in 37 years. The annual celebration of the Commonwealth will see the largest gathering of senior royals since the arrest of his former son-in-law, Prince Andrew, Mountbatten-Windsor.

However, those hoping to follow the event on the BBC will be left disappointed, with Escape to the Country expected to air in its place. According to royal author and historian Tessa Dunlop, the service not being televised live this year casts doubt on the institution’s future. She told The Mirror: “The BBC‘s dumping of the commonwealth service speaks to establishment slippage – one that incorporates four previously revered institutions – the BBC, the Royal Family, the Church of England, and the Commonwealth. More specifically, it is a warning sign for the Royal Family that things are not what they were.”

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