Royal funeral:
After 73 years together, the Queen farewells Prince Philip
She stood apart, the lonely Queen Elizabeth, amasked figure all in black, head bowed under her hat.
On this gloriously sunny but most solemn of Saturday afternoons, she was not just a monarch in her castle being scrutinised on television around the world but above all awoman saying goodbye to the one she loved.
To her subjects, Prince Philip was the longest-serving royal consort in British history – an often crotchety figure, offending people with gaffes about slitty eyes, even if secretly we rather enjoyed them.
But to the Queen he was for 73 years her only confidant, her icebreaker at events, the patriarch who banged heads together in their often exasperating family, the man she did the crossword with the person who called her ‘‘Cabbage’’.
Unlike so many arranged royal marriages, for her this was a great love story. ‘‘He’s the one,’’ she told her nanny, Crawfie, after meeting the handsome naval cadet when she was just 13.
No one can look at those starry-eyed photos of the carefree Princess Elizabeth before she unexpectedly became Queen at 25 and not see how much she adored him.
It was not just their own love that made this a royal funeral like no other. After more than 127,000 Covid deaths, when many in Britain have had to grieve alone for loved ones, it was the most pared back of solemn royal ceremonies.
For the duke who hated fuss, Covid had given him the simple funeral he wanted. Yet somehow the black masks and the choir of just four, whose voices soared through the vast emptiness of St George’s Chapel, enhanced its mournful beauty.
The gods could not have scripted amore glorious day, perfect blue skies framing the castle towers with the royal standard flying from the Round Tower.
One thing at which Britain really does remain world-beating is pomp and ceremony, and as events got under way at 2.20pm this was no disappointment.
Military bands from all three services massed on the magnificent green quadrangle in the centre of Windsor Castle, to reflect the regiments he was affiliated to. Among them were Grenadier Guards in splendid scarlet, Welsh Guards, Royal Marines in navy and sailors in white. Heads bowed, they began playing a selection of music chosen by the duke, starting with I Vow to Thee my Country followed by the haunting strains of Jerusalem and Elgar’s Nimrod.
To the side stood the carriage he loved to drive, its two black shire horses and empty seat looking as if they were waiting for their master.
But then, instead of the usual gun carriage for state or royal burials, there emerged a Land Rover in military green.
Like everything in the ceremony it was designed by the duke, who planned his own funeral in meticulous detail, every element chosen to reflect his myriad of interests. He often joked that he had lived so long that everyone else involved in his plans had died off.
At 2.38pm, the music stopped and we got the first sight of the coffin, draped with his personal standard and awreath of white lilies and roses. It was carried by masked Grenadier Guards, the only sound their feet crunching on gravel.
This was also the first sight of the family, sons, daughter and grandsons, gathering in a cortege led by Charles and Anne followed by Edward and Andrew. It was impossible not to focus on the two feuding princes, William and Harry, at the back, separated by the human shield of their cousin Peter Phillips.
This is the first time Harry has met with the Windsors since he and Meghan’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey last month.
The men were all in morning suits which seemed odd for such amilitary themed funeral. The Queen apparently ruled out uniforms to spare the embarrassment of the disgraced Andrew turning up as an admiral, having already ordered his costume, as well as Harry, no longer entitled to wear uniform despite having actually fought in Afghanistan.
Yet the real focus was the Queen and we got our first glimpse as the state Bentley approached and the national anthem struck up. With her was her lady in waiting, Lady Susan Hussey, 81, who has been with her for many decades and is godmother to the Duke of Cambridge.
The coffin placed on the Land Rover, the Duke began his final journey to the sound of Beethoven’s funeral march and a beating drum. Out of the quadrangle they processed through the Engine court to the steps to St George’s Chapel, an eight-minute route lined by representatives of different regiments.
The Queen looked a small hunched figure as she emerged from her car at Galilee porch to be greeted by the Dean of Windsor. Inside she took her place alone at the pew as her husband’s coffin was brought to the foot of the West steps and the national anthem played.
Then eight Royal Marines lifted the coffin and took it up the steps, pausing halfway up while Navy pipers piped The Side, traditionally used to tell a ship that an officer is coming on board.
The last stop was for a National Minute’s Silence at 3pm. Then the coffin was taken into the 16th century chapel with its soaring Gothic ceiling over a nave stripped bare into the ancient wooden Quire and placed on the catafalque in front of the Queen. Sunlight poured through its long arched windows and colourful banners hung representing the 24 knights of the Order of the Garter, but the emptiness was shocking.
Saturday saw only 30 mourners dotted around the pews. In the end it was basically children, grandchildren, niece and nephew, the Kents, an old carriage-driving friend and three members of the German branch of the Duke’s family.
This was not a state funeral but a ceremonial funeral, as for the Queen Mother in 2002, though that had 2000 guests.
The theme was service to Queen and country, yet over the past ten days we have learnt that he was much more interesting than that. He did indeed live a life of service, as patron to more than 800 organisations and attending more than 22,000 events. But he was also awar hero and, long before his son Charles, a pioneering environmentalist and advocate for conservation.
The Dean of Windsor, the Rt Rev David Conner, opened the service with the Bidding, saying ‘‘With grateful hearts, we remember the many ways in which his long life has been a blessing to us.’’
There was no eulogy or readings but it was a deeply religious service encompassing very personal touches particularly in the music choices. For the most part the cameras focused on the choir, the Dean and Justin Welby who gave thanks in the prayers for the Duke’s ‘‘resolute faith and loyalty . . . and for the courage and inspiration of his leadership’’.
Only occasionallywerewe allowed a glimpse of the Queen’s head bowed or of Harry alone. Everything was about simplicity – the one slight slip from modesty was when someone with the splendid title of Garter Principal King of Arms and an even more splendid red and black cape decorated with gold lions and harps, attempted to list some of the Duke’s almost North Korean array of titles.
The 50-minute service ended with a lone pipe major of the Royal regiment of Scotland playing the Lament and four Royal Marines buglers playing the haunting sound of Last Post as the coffin was lowered by lift into the royal vault beneath the altar. There he will stay along with Henry VIII and the Queen’s parents though will be moved to Westminster Abbey with the Queen when she dies.
The man who started life as a refugee prince ended it taken into the heart of his adopted country.
‘‘With grateful hearts, we remember the many ways in which his long life has been a blessing to us.’’
Rt Rev David Conner
The Dean ofwindsor