Prince Philip laid to rest in 50-minute ceremony
LONDON — His coffin borne on a military green Land Rover that he had helped design, Prince Philip was laid to rest Saturday at Windsor Castle in an austere, meticulously choreographed funeral that captured his steely role in Britain’s royal family and offered a solemn glimpse of its uncertain future.
Queen Elizabeth II bade farewell to Philip, her husband, who died April 9, two months shy of his 100th birthday inside St. George’s Chapel. She was clad in a mask and kept at a distance from her children and grandchildren by pandemic social-distancing requirements, which limited attendance to 30 people.
Her grandsons, Prince William and Prince Harry, were separated as well, by one of their cousins, as they walked behind Philip’s coffin. This quirk of royal protocol dramatized the rift between the brothers that opened after Harry’s marriage to an American former actress, Meghan Markle.
If the wedding of Harry and Meghan was an ebullient display of a modern royal family, complete with a gospel choir and an African American preacher, Philip’s funeral was a throwback to the monarchy’s traditions. There was no eulogy, despite some reports that Prince Charles would pay tribute to his father.
The archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Justin Welby, and the dean of Windsor, the Right Rev. David Conner, recited the readings, rather than family members. A choir of four, its numbers cut by the pandemic and standing apart on a stone floor, sang hymns selected by Philip, their voices echoing in the chapel’s empty nave.
The royal family listened silently, separated into family bubbles, their faces softly lighted by lamps. Harry sat alone, his head bowed during a hymn.
Less than an hour later, Philip’s coffin was lowered into the royal vault as the dean intoned, “Go forth upon thy journey from this world, O Christian soul,” and the pipe major of the Royal Regiment of Scotland played. The brisk schedule was in keeping with the no-fuss manner of Philip, a man known as much for his remote demeanor and penchant for gaffes as for his enduring fealty to the queen.
Still, the ceremony was rich in symbols of the military career that Philip, whose formal title was Duke of Edinburgh, gave up when his young wife ascended the throne in 1953 after the sudden death of her father, George VI.
The duke’s coffin was draped in his personal standard and carried his sword and naval cap. On nine cushions on the altar were military regalia, including Philip’s Royal Air Force wings and field marshal’s baton as well as the Order of the Elephant, bestowed on him by Denmark, and the Order of the Redeemer, by Greece. Those symbolized his royal lineage as a prince of Denmark and Greece.
After Philip was interred, the Royal Marines’ buglers played “The Last Post” and “Action Stations,” a summons to battle stations that is rarely played at funerals but can be requested by a veteran of the Royal Navy. During World War II, the duke saw combat aboard a British destroyer and battleship.
Nothing captured the day’s military feeling like the custom-made Land Rover Defender that conveyed Philip on his last journey to the chapel. The duke tinkered with the vehicle’s design for 18 years, settling on an open back and metal pins to secure his coffin. He requested the military-green paint job.
At 3 p.m., after the Land Rover had passed beneath Windsor’s crenelated towers and arrived at the chapel — to the metronomic boom of cannon shots and the peal of bells — there was a national minute of silence.