Royals comfort bereaved Queen as Prince Philip’s funeral details revealed
Charles fronts the cameras for the first time since Prince Philip’s death, as details of his funeral are revealed.
Close family members have been supporting a bereaved Queen over the weekend as Prince Philip’s ceremonial royal funeral arrangements are finalised for next Saturday.
Tributes continue to pour in from around the world after Philip’s death, aged 99, who was described by the Queen as her “strength and stay’’ and by former prime minister John Major as “the ballast of our Ship of State’’.
Prince Charles, who obtained special dispensation to visit his father last month when Philip was hospitalised for four weeks with an infection before undergoing heart surgery, was the first to visit the Queen, driving from his country estate in Gloucestershire to Windsor as soon as he heard the sad news.
Speaking afterwards at his Highgrove House home in southwest England, Charles, 72, paid tribute to his father’s “remarkable devoted service to the queen, to my family and to the country” and said the royal family missed him “enormously.”
“My dear papa was a very special person who, I think, above all else, would have been amazed by the reaction and the touching things that have been said about him,” he added.
The Prince of Wales pays tribute to The Duke of Edinburgh on behalf of The Royal Family. pic.twitter.com/tDP0rkKGzc
— The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall (@ClarenceHouse) April 10, 2021
Philip had become seriously ill on Thursday night and died peacefully on Friday morning in his rooms at Windsor Castle, three weeks after leaving hospital. True to form, he had insisted on returning home in a car, not an ambulance. He died two months shy of his 100th birthday and missed the Queen’s 95th birthday on April 21 by less than two weeks.
The Queen has decided there will be two weeks of royal mourning.
Philip’s funeral, limited to 30 people, will be held at St Geroge’s Chapel, Windsor Castle on April 17. It will begin with an eight minute military procession at 2.45pm local time (11.45pm Saturday in Australia) followed by a minute’s silence at 3pm, and then the service.
All public elements of the funeral have been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic and the severely pared back numbers will mean that planned invitations to 800 mourners from Philip’s charities, his military units and Commonwealth leaders — including the Australian prime minister Scott Morrison and the Australian high commissioner in the UK, George Brandis — have been set aside.
The limited numbers are a mark of respect by the royal family to the rest of the nation to follow current government guidelines acknowledging the hardships hundreds of thousands of families have suffered for more than a year, as well as honouring Philip’s wish for little fuss.
On the day of the funeral, Philip’s coffin — to be carried on a modified Land Rover as a special request from Philip, who helped design the vehicles — will be accompanied by the Dean of Windsor and the Lord Chamberlain, and moved to the State Entrance of Windsor Castle by a Bearer Party of The Queen’s Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards and the Royal Marines.
Representative detachments from Philip’s military units will be gathered on the Castle’s Quadrangle, lined with the Household Cavalry and The Foot Guards. The Band of the Grenadier Guards, of which Philip was Colonel for 42 years, will lead the procession to St George’s Chapel. Prince Charles and other members of the royal family, along with the Duke’s personal protection officer, his personal secretary, two pages and two valets, will take part in the procession on foot, immediately behind his coffin.
He will be interred in the royal vault in St George’s Chapel.
A palace spokesperson said: “Although the ceremonial arrangements are reduced, the occasion will still celebrate and recognise the Duke’s life and his more than 70 years of service to the Queen, the UK and the Commonwealth.”.
The thirty people allowed to attend the funeral service will be mainly limited to close royal family members. Prince Harry is to fly over from California, while his heavily pregnant wife Meghan will stay behind, having not obtained medical clearance.
The funeral is seen as a chance for Harry to patch up his strained relationship with Prince William and Kate, as well as with his father Charles, after airing grievances in a global Oprah Winfrey television special.
The Queen, who was with Philip at the very end, had been able to enjoy quiet times with her husband of 73 years throughout the pandemic, after Philip moved from his comfortable Norfolk cottage, Wood Farm, where he enjoyed painting and walking in the woods on the Sandringham estate, back to Windsor.
Royal insiders said that in Philip’s final weeks he was able to sit in the garden with a rug over his knees and nod off in the sunshine. Charles visited his parents on Easter Sunday when restrictions were eased to allow outdoor visits to another household.
Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, is very close to the Queen, and often accompanies her to functions after Philip retired from royal life in August 2017.
But it was Sophie and Prince Edward’s daughter, Lady Louise, who was extremely close to Philip, with the two enjoying carriage driving together.
Just hours after Philip’s death was announced, Lady Louise took two of Philip’s favourite horses for a carriage ride in Windsor Park, giving the horses their daily exercise, but also providing a touching tribute to her grandfather.
Sophie and Edward then visited the Queen on Saturday morning, with the couple leaving Windsor Castle with their windows down to wave to the crowds laying flowers.
“The Queen has been amazing,” Sophie said.
Prince Andrew, who has kept a very low profile since the scandal of his friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, also arrived at Windsor Castle on Saturday to console the Queen.
There were 41-gun salutes in Royal parks across the nation for Philip, and his picture adorned many public buildings including at Trafalgar Square.
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