Touching moment at Countess’s farewell
The Prince of Wales with the Queen at the funeral of Countess Mountbatten of Burma yesterday. The Prince addressed the 500 mourners at the service, at St Paul’s church, Knightsbridge, sharing his fond memories of the Mountbatten family
THE QUEEN and her son shared a gentle moment yesterday as senior members of the Royal family turned out to commemorate the life of Countess Mountbatten of Burma.
The Prince of Wales was seen to kiss his mother before lifting her hand to his cheek as they waited outside St Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge, for the funeral of his “very special godmother”.
The Prince, who gave an address to 500 mourners sharing his fond memories of the Mountbatten family, also greeted the recuperating Duke of Edinburgh with a kiss on each cheek and patted him on the back as they entered the church together.
He has previously paid tribute to the Countess as someone he had “known and loved ever since I can first remember”, adding that she “played an extremely important part in my life and I shall miss her presence most dreadfully”.
The life of Countess Mountbatten was celebrated in a one-hour service, attended by her sister Lady Pamela Hicks, all six of her surviving children and her grandchildren, including Nicholas Knatchbull, heir to the earldom. The Duke of York, who had a black eye, was in attendance, along with the Countess of Wessex, the Princess Royal and Sir Timothy Laurence, the Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent, Prince Michael of Kent, Princess Alexandra and Lady Sarah Chatto.
In heavy rain, the Countess’s wicker casket, decorated with elegant white flowers, was carried by a bearer party made up of 12 members of Canadian regiment 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI). The Countess had been their Colonel-in-chief.
Music before the service included Elgar’s Nimrod from the Enigma Variations and the service included performances from the church choir and buglers from Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. The Countess’s children read prayers.
After the service, the Queen and Duke departed by car while the Prince of Wales and his siblings walked over the road to join mourners at a reception in the Berkeley Hotel. The Countess
‘She played an extremely important part in my life and I shall miss her presence most dreadfully’
died at home at the age of 93, surrounded by her children, in Mersham, Kent, where she will now be buried.
Born Patricia Mountbatten, the Countess was the Duke of Edinburgh’s first cousin and the daughter of Earl Mountbatten, who was killed by the IRA in 1979 along with the Countess’s son and mother-in-law. She inherited her father’s title as it was allowed to pass to his daughters. The then-princess Elizabeth, her third cousin, was one of her bridesmaids in 1946.
Lady Mountbatten had been a widow since Lord Brabourne’s death in 2005. She is survived by their four sons and two daughters. The eldest son, Norton, succeeds to the titles.