Even in a world boasting the Kardashians and the Osbournes, the British royal family is about as weird and wonderful as they come. Their lives feed a script that writes itself, with each character having a fatal flaw that fuels the drama, played out on the stage of the tabloids and trash-mags.

Yet in the past week – with the footlights on the family at full wattage following the death of Prince Philip, and in the build-up to his funeral at 3pm this Saturday (midnight Sunday AEST) – the royals have contrived to seem almost ... normal.