Chichester Cathedral members among 70 presented with the Maundy Purse from King Charles III

Themy Hamilton and John Sieberts, both from Chichester, received the gift at a ceremony held at York Minster.

For more than 70 years the Queen marked the Royal Maundy Service and the tradition has continued every year since. This year, the service was marked by the King and Camilla, the Queen Consort.

King Charles III presented 74 men and 74 women - representative of his age - with a Maundy gift and thanked them for their help in local communities.

The men and women have been selected from the Church of England dioceses across the country and Anglican and Ecumenical partners across the UK.

The recipients were presented with a red purse and a white purse. The white purse contained a set of minted silver Maundy coins valued to the age of the King and the red purse will commemorative coins.

The Royal website said one of the commemorative coins will ‘celebrate His Majesty's forthcoming 75th birthday and the other will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Windrush generation’.

Themy Hamilton, a long-standing patron of the arts, has been a board member of the National Theatre. Since moving to Chichester more than a decade ago, Themy has supported the musical life of the cathedral and Chichester Festival Theatre: in both cases this offers invaluable encouragement to young people.

Themy is Zoroastrian by faith and worships at Chichester Cathedral. She said: “I felt honoured at being asked to be a recipient of the Royal Maundy . It was a great privilege to meet King Charles, and to feel I had served the community in some small way, working with AIDS, Dementia and involvement with the theatre.

“My late husband Eben was always involved in charitable works, and today would have given him great joy.”

John Siebert has had a successful career in business and has always been marked by a commitment to giving something back in recognition of his own fortunate life. In Chichester, he has been a leading advocate of personalising the response to the street homeless: he knows by name those who are in need of food and shelter. He has also led the funding of educational initiatives in Uganda.

John said: “It is an extraordinary honour to be selected to receive Maundy money from King Charles in beautiful York Minster. There are so many deserving people in Chichester. However, a fantastic experience that I enjoyed with my wife. The ceremony was truly majestic and the gift of two purses will be admired by us and many more in the years to come.”

What is the story behind Maundy Thursday?Maundy Thursday marks the night of the Last Supper and the day that Jesus celebrated his final Passover with his disciples.The Last Supper is the final meal Jesus shared with his apostles before his crucifixion.

It is a key date in the Christian calendar as it marks the end of Lent - a time when many people decide to give up what they love to remember Jesus' sacrifice.

Maundy Thursday is believed to be the day when Jesus washed his disciples' feet and commanded them to do the same for each other.This tradition is now carried onto the present day, with religious leaders, like the Pope, traditionally washing and kissing the feet of people - usually church members.

Maundy Thursday, also known as Holy Thursday, derives from the Latin word ‘mandatum’, which means ‘command’.