YORK will welcome a third royal guest next week as Princess Beatrice joins her grandparents on their Easter visit to the city.

The elder daughter of the Duke of York will accompany the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh as they attend the Royal Maundy Service at York Minster next Thursday, with thousands of people set to line the streets to greet them.

The young royal, whose full title is Princess Beatrice of York, will arrive in the city with her grandmother and grandfather through Micklegate Bar before they make their way to the Minster. The Maundy service is to be followed by a lunch at the Mansion House and a visit to the Yorkshire Museum.

During the service, the Queen will distribute Maundy money to 86 women and 86 men – one for each year of the monarch’s life – as part of a long-standing Easter tradition, with each recipient being given a red purse containing a £5 coin commemorating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and a 50p coin.

They will also receive a white purse holding unique Maundy money in the form of silver one, two, three and four-penny pieces, the sum of which equals the Queen’s age.

All the coins have been newly minted this year, with the recipients being retired pensioners recommended by clergy and ministers in recognition of their service to the church and the community in York, as well as others from outside the city in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee.

Following the service, the royal party will sign the Minster’s visitor book and an official picture will be taken of the Queen and those who received the Maundy money outside the Great West Door, with a reception being held at the Deanery before the Mansion House civic lunch.

During the afternoon, the Queen, the Duke and Princess Beatrice will visit the Yorkshire Museum’s ‘1212: The Making of the City’ exhibition, marking the 800th anniversary of York’s independence, telling the tale of its medieval heritage and celebrating the lives of those who have contributed to the city’s history.

In addition to crowds of residents, at least 15,000 visitors are expected to flock to York for the royal visit.

Among those who will receive the Maundy money are York City legend Alf Patrick, due to his long association with St Edward the Confessor Church in Dringhouses, long-serving Escrick churchwarden and parish councillor Bill Reader, and lay reader Tony Hunt, of Scarcroft Road, while 13 winners of The Press’ Community Pride Awards last year have been invited to the Mansion House lunch.