Prince Philip Funeral Will be Moment of Anguish for Queen, Says Archbishop
The Queen may behave “with extraordinary dignity and extraordinary courage” but the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral at Windsor Castle on Saturday will be an “anguished moment” for her, the archbishop of Canterbury has said. Justin Welby spoke as Buckingham Palace revealed there will be no sermon and no eulogy to Prince Philip, who for seven decades played a prominent role in the nation’s public life. Eulogies are not common at royal funerals and neither are family readings, which are also absent from the order of service published on Friday night.
It includes readings and music chosen by Prince Philip, and the lack of sermon is at his request. The only words touching on the impact he made as the Queen’s consort of 73 years will be delivered by clergy in the bidding and prayers.
The monarch, who marks her 95th birthday on Wednesday, would require the support of the nation at this difficult time, said Welby, who will give the blessing at St George’s chapel, where the Queen is expected to sit alone. People should not judge her on “external” appearances on the day, he said. “She is the Queen. She will behave with the extraordinary dignity and extraordinary courage that she always does.”
But he told the BBC: “She is saying farewell to someone to whom she was married for 73 years … I think that must be a very, very profound thing in anybody’s life and I hope the whole nation, if they believe in that, they pray for her, and if they don’t, they sympathise in their hearts, offer their condolences to her, and they hope for her to find strength in what must be an anguished moment.”
The dean of Windsor, the Rt Rev David Conner, will pay tribute to Philip’s “kindness, humour and humanity”. “With grateful hearts, we remember the many ways in which his long life has been a blessing to us. We have been inspired by his unwavering loyalty to our Queen, by his service to the nation and the Commonwealth, by his courage, fortitude and faith,” he will say of him.