Armed Forces prepare for Duke’s funeral

THE ARMED Forces are stepping up preparations for the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral as senior officers paid tribute to the Queen’s Consort.

Philip’s funeral will feature servicemen and women from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Army and RAF, as well as top military officers on Saturday at Windsor Castle.

The Army has tweeted tributes from senior officers and service personnel whose units are associated with the Duke, and General Sir Tom Beckett, Colonel of the Queen’s Royal Hussars, said Philip had a positive impact on his regiment.

He added: “The regiment is mourning for its Colonel-in-Chief, who has been associated with the regiment for almost seven decades and we remember that association and we remember his interest in, and impact on the regiment.”

Soldiers from the Corps of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) are reportedly preparing a Land Rover which will carry the Duke’s coffin.

Lieutenant General Paul Jaques, who served with REME, said about the Duke, his unit’s former Colonel-in-Chief: “He was engaged with us and used to visit us probably once or twice every single year since 1969.

“And he had an enormous passion for all things engineering. In his own words ‘If it wasn’t invented by God, it was invented by an engineer’.”

In 1953, the year of the Queen’s coronation, Philip was given honorary five-star appointments in all three services, being made an Admiral of the Fleet, British Army Field Marshal and Royal Air Force Marshal. In 2011, to mark his 90th birthday, the Queen appointed him Lord High Admiral of the Royal Navy, the office of titular head of the Navy.