surprised all royal fans after making a rare appearance alongside his family in Windsor today for the The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh's was pictured towering over his parents.

It is the first time the Earl of Wessex since he spent Christmas with his family at the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk. Looking incredibly dapper in a suit, eager-eyed royal fans couldn't help but notice that James' red tie had a cute nod to how his parents met. The teenager's red tie had tennis rackets on it, tennis holds a sentimental feeling to the family as Prince Edward and Dutchess Sophie met during a charity tennis match.

Prince Edward was 23 when he met 22-year-old Sophie Rhys-Jones at Capitol Radio in 1987, where she was working at the time in public relations. However, it was not love at first sight - in fact, Edward was dating Sophie's friend. Their relationship did not blossom until 1993 when their paths crossed once again at a photo shoot for the Prince Edward Summer Challenge, a charity event.

At the time, Sophie was handling PR for the event with MacLaurin Communications and was recruited to model on a tennis court after BBC presenter Sue Barker could not make the meeting.

Just an hour before the meeting Brian McLaurin, Sophie's boss, asked the now royal to participate in the shoot with the prince, and the rest is history.

The now Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh started dating soon after that.

Even though James attended the service, there were a number of notable absences, including the Wales family and the Tindall family.

William and Kate opted to miss the major event . A source told the earlier this week: "They are choosing to spend time together as a family before the children go back to school."

Royal fans were surprised to see , the beleaguered royal, , usually attends the Easter Mattins service as it is considered a private family event rather than an official engagement.