Sisters in grief
Quiet dignity of the mourning wives of Windsor
THEY stood silently inside the great hall, eyes cast down in sorrow, each lost in personal memories of their monarch and much-loved matriarch.
They listened out for the clatter of hooves and the crunch of approaching footsteps, wondering how their husbands were coping on their harrowing march of sorrow.
For as the royal men – and Princess Anne – escorted Her Late Majesty’s coffin to her lying in state at Westminster, the mourning wives of Windsor were waiting, as ever, in support.
The Queen Consort, the Princess of Wales, the Countess of Wessex and the Duchess of Sussex were a united picture of elegance and dignity as they stood in a line before the committal service began.
And the image of their black-clad figures was a poignant reminder of the Queen, her mother, grandmother and sister in mourning for King George VI some 70 years ago.
The Princess Royal, in her admiral’s uniform, had joined the King, his younger brothers and sons, for the 40-minute walk from Buckingham Palace to Westminster.
But as the coffin was carried towards the catafalque, the royals broke ranks and then regrouped so that Camilla, Kate, Sophie and Meghan could stand beside their grieving husbands.
It was a reminder of the cherished place each one of them had in the Queen’s heart.
And a signal that, after all the upset and division of “Megxit”, the royals are still prepared to welcome the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as, in the Queen’s words, “much-loved members of my family”.
Of course it will take time and effort for Princes William and Harry to properly heal their rift.
But after their joint appearance to meet wellwishers at Windsor on Saturday a rapprochement between the “Fab Four” is now at least a possibility.
To the disappointment of many body language analysts, there was little chance for interaction between Kate and Meghan at yesterday’s short and formal ceremony.
But the sight of the two of them standing together again would have warmed the late Queen’s heart.
As the gun carriage procession left the palace at 2.22pm, the four Windsor wives watched from a window before driv-ing to Westminster by car.
Camilla and Kate were first to leave, travelling in a Rolls-Royce bearing the new King’s standard. Sophie and
Meghan followed closely behind in a state Bentley.
As the Rolls arrived at Westminster, one photographer captured a stunning image of Catherine looking down sadly.
With a black veil covering part of her face, it bore echoes of the photo taken in April 2021 at the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh.
Yesterday, Queen Consort Camilla led the way into Westminster Hall where other members of the Royal Family were already lined up waiting.
She looked elegant and composed in a trademark wide-brimmed hat and pearl choker necklace and wore an unusual stick insect brooch.
Kate, the new Princess of Wales, stood beside her wearing the
It was a reminder of the cherished place each one had in her heart
favourite pearl-drop earrings she inherited from her predecessor in that role, her mother-in-law Diana.
But in tribute to the late Queen, she also had on a stunning brooch that belonged to Her Majesty.
The piece features a trio of large pearls set in the centre of a pavé-decorated leaf, and had been loaned to her by the monarch in the past. Kate wore it in 2017 at a Commonwealth war graves cemetery in Ypres, during commemorations marking the centenary of the Battle of Passchendaele.
The Queen had worn it on her 73rd birthday during an official tour to South Korea.
In her own touching tribute, Meghan was wearing a pair of pearl and diamond earrings that the Queen gave her ahead of a visit to the city of Chester in 2018.
It was the first engagement they carried out together after Meghan married into the Royal Family.
Sophie Wessex, who the Queen had come to see as a second daughter, wore a simple silver cross around her neck, a symbol of the shared faith they often discussed. Grief was etched across her face as the Queen’s coffin was carried inside by a red-clad bearer party from the Grenadier Guards.
And as it passed in front of them, all four women’s eyes fell upon the Imperial State Crown that rested on a purple cushion, shimmering and shining as brightly as the woman whose anointed head it once graced.
They fell into step beside their husbands for the brief but moving service, standing ramrod straight in their high-heeled court shoes.
And afterwards, as they filed out of the hall together, they made deep, respectful curtsies.
The mourning wives of Windsor, united in grief at the loss of a quite magnificent monarch and matriarch.