Windsor, UK
Reuters
Britain’s senior royals will eschew tradition and wear morning suits rather than military uniforms for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth’s husband Prince Philip, in an attempt to prevent embarrassment for Princes Andrew and Harry.
Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, died aged 99 last week and his funeral – a ceremonial royal funeral rather than a state funeral – will be held entirely at Windsor Castle on Saturday.
A flower arrangement with a picture of Prince Philip is left near Windsor Castle, after Britain’s Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth, died at the age of 99, in Windsor, near London, Britain, on 15th April. PICTURE: Reuters/Hannah McKay.
The service will feature much of the original planning made by the prince himself, but has had to be scaled back and modified because of restrictions brought in to curb the spread of COVID-19, meaning the Queen and the other 29 mourners permitted to attend will wear masks.
FUNERAL DETAILS
The funeral
The funeral, which will be broadcast live, will take place at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle at 3pm (1400 GMT). As planned, it will be a ceremonial royal funeral, rather than a state funeral, with most of the details in keeping with Prince Philip’s personal wishes. However, it has had to be scaled back because of COVID-19 restrictions. There will be no public access, no public processions and the funeral will take place entirely within the grounds of Windsor Castle. The service will begin with a national minute of silence. At the end of the service Philip will be interred in the chapel’s Royal Vault.
Who will attend?
Only 30 mourners are permitted because of COVID-19 rules. These will include the Queen, all senior royals including the duke’s grandchildren and their wives, and members of Prince Philip’s family including Bernhard, the Hereditary Prince of Baden, and Prince Philipp of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Members of the Royal Family will be wearing morning coat with medals, or day dress. The congregation will adhere to national coronavirus guidelines and wear masks for the 50-minute service. A small choir of four will sing pieces of music chosen by the prince before his death and there will be no congregational singing. The Queen will be seated alone during the service.
The details (note: all times local, GMT is one hour behind British Summer Time)
At 11am, Philip’s coffin, covered by his standard (flag), a wreath, his naval cap and sword, will be moved by a bearer party from the Queen’s Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards from the Private Chapel in Windsor Castle – where it has been lying in rest – to the Inner Hall of the castle.
At 2pm the ceremonial aspect begins, and within 15 minutes military detachments drawn from Philip’s special military relationships such as the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, the Grenadier Guards, the Royal Gurkha Rifles, the Intelligence Corps and the Highlanders will line up in the castle’s quadrangle.
The Foot Guards and the Household Cavalry will line up around the perimeter of the quadrangle.
Between 2:20pm and 2:27pm, the royals and members of Philip’s family not taking part in the procession will leave by car for St George’s Chapel.
At 2:27pm, a specially-coverted Land Rover that Philip helped design will enter the quadrangle.
At 2.38pm, the coffin will be lifted by the bearer party from the Inner Hall.
Bands in the quadrangle will stop playing at 2:40pm and the coffin will emerge from the State Entrance one minute later.
The royals in the procession including Philip’s four children – Princes Charles, Andrew, Edward and Princess Anne, along with grandsons William and Harry – will leave the State Entrance behind the coffin, which will be placed onto the Land Rover.
At 2:44pm, the Queen will leave the Sovereign’s Entrance in a car known as the State Bentley. The national anthem will be played and as the car reaches the rear of the procession, it will pause briefly.
At 2:45pm, the procession will step off with the band of the Grenadier Guards leading. The Land Rover will be flanked by pall bearers.
As it moves to the chapel, Minute Guns will be fired by The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery and a Curfew Tower Bell will sound.
The Queen’s Bentley will stop outside the Galilee Porch where she will be met by the dean of Windsor, David Conner, who will escort her to her seat in the quire of the Chapel.
The coffin will arrive at the foot of the west steps of St George’s Chapel at 2:53pm to a guard of honour and band from the Rifles. Positioned in the Horseshoe Cloister will be the Commonwealth defence advisers from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Trinidad and Tobago.
The west steps will be lined by a dismounted detachment of the Household Cavalry. A Royal Naval Piping Party will pipe the Still once the Land Rover is stationery at the foot of the steps. A bearer party from the Royal Marines will lift the coffin from the Land Rover as the Piping Party pipe the Side.
The coffin will pause for the national minute of silence at 3pm. A gun fired from the East Lawn will signify the start and end.
The coffin will then be taken to the top of the steps where it will be received by the dean of Windsor and the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. As the chapel doors close, a piping party will pipe the Carry On.
The coffin will move through the nave to the catafalque in the quire, with senior royals processing behind.
Philip’s “insignia” – essentially the medals and decorations conferred on him, his field marshal’s baton and Royal Air Force Wings, together with insignia from Denmark and Greece, will be positioned on cushions on the altar.
The funeral service will then be conducted by the dean of Windsor. After the coffin is lowered into the Royal Vault, Philip’s “Styles and Titles” will be proclaimed from the sanctuary.
A lament will then be played by a pipe major of the Royal Regiment of Scotland and The Last Post will be sounded by buglers of the Royal Marines.
After a period of silence, the Reveille will be sounded by the state trumpeters of the Household Cavalry and then the buglers of the Royal Marines will sound Action Stations at the specific request of the Duke of Edinburgh, as Philip was officially known.
The Archbishop of Canterbury will then pronounce the blessing, after which the national anthem will be sung.
The Queen and the other mourners will then leave the chapel via the Galilee Porch.
– MICHAEL HOLDEN and GUY FAULCONBRIDGE, Reuters
“Members of the royal family will be wearing morning coat with medals or day dress,” a Buckingham Palace spokesman said. “That’s to say members of the royal family will not be in military uniform.”
Traditionally at such formal occasions, the royals wear military uniforms, often reflecting honorary titles they hold.
However, the funeral is taking place against a backdrop of recent crises for the monarchy, with the Queen’s grandson Prince Harry quitting royal duties and criticising the family for the treatment of his wife in a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Harry, 36, the Duke of Sussex, lost all his military patronages in January after moving last year to Los Angeles with wife Meghan and son Archie, but wanted to wear the military uniform he wore for his wedding day.
Newspapers reported that Prince Andrew, 61, the Duke of York and the monarch’s and her late husband’s second son, wished to attend the funeral in the uniform of admiral, a honorary rank he was awarded to mark his 60th birthday.
However, he had deferred that title after stepping away from official engagements because of his “ill-judged” association with the late disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Compounding the issue was the fact that the two royals are the only ones to have seen active service – Harry in Afghanistan and Andrew in the 1982 Falkland Islands conflict.
Signed off by the Queen
“All the arrangements have been signed off by her majesty,” the palace spokesman said. “So that’s all there is to say.”
The funeral ceremony will begin on Saturday at 1300 GMT. The duke’s coffin will be carried out and placed on a specially-commissioned Land Rover and will process to the castle’s St George’s Chapel.
Walking behind will be senior royals including heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, his eldest son William and his brother Harry, while the Queen will follow behind in the State Bentley. There will be a one minute’s national silence at 1400 GMT before the 50-minute service starts.
At the end, the coffin will be lowered into the royal vault.
Much attention during the service will be on other royals treatment of Harry, and he will not be next to William, with whom he has had a fallout, during any of the processions.
“We’re not going to be drawn into those perceptions of drama, or anything like that,” the palace spokesman said. “This is a funeral. The arrangements have been agreed, and they represent her majesty’s wishes, so we’re not going say anything more on that.”
The spokesman also added that the Queen and the royals had been grateful for all the messages of condolence from around the world.
Earlier, Charles and his wife Camilla visited piles of floral tributes which have been moved from outside Buckingham Palace to the private gardens of Malborough House, the headquarters of the Commonwealth, to prevent crowds gathering.
Amongst the hundreds of bouquets was a small Land Rover with the message “The Duke. RIP.”
Prince Edward, Philip’s youngest son, also issued a statement to thank those who took part in the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, set up by the late prince for young people, for their “truly uplifting” memories.
“I think I may have said once that he was a man that once met, never forgotten,” Edward said.
Meanwhile, MICHAEL HOLDEN reports that when Prince Philip’s coffin is conveyed to church for his funeral service, it will be taken in a specially-commissioned Land Rover that the British royal himself helped design.
In place of the usual hearse, Philip’s body will be taken from its current resting place to St George’s Chapel on a bespoke Land Rover which has been modified to carry a coffin – in keeping with Philip’s original plans for the funeral.
Buckingham Palace said the prince started on the project with Land Rover 18 years ago with the hearse based on a Defender TD 130 chassis and then modified, with the open top rear section custom made to Philip’s specification.
It was painted Dark Bronze Green, a colour used for many military Land Rovers.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson told parliament on Monday it was fitting that Philip would be taken to his final resting place on a modified Land Rover.
“That vehicle’s unique and idiosyncratic silhouette reminds the world that he was above all a practical man, who could take something very traditional – whether a machine or indeed a great national institution – and find a way by his own ingenuity to improve it, to adapt it for the 20th or the 21st century,” Johnson said.
The Jaguar Land Rover that will be used to transport the coffin of Britain’s Prince Philip at his funeral on 17th April is seen at Windsor Castle, Berkshire, Britain. PICTURE: Steve Parsons/Pool via Reuters.
