Much for the country say our own farewell
more people here, especially when there are plans for people to return to football stadiums.
“He has done so much for this country, there should be a big public celebration of his life.”
Ian Mawhinney, 56, added: “I’m quite torn about the measures... I think the country is missing out on something.”
Some royal fans wore masks of Philip’s face as they lined the streets.
Victoria Nicholson said: “I love him to pieces, he would always say something quite rude – or people would take it quite rude – but I loved him for that.
“He was human and I think it was him putting people at ease, he always managed to do that.”
Cognitive behaviour therapist Lucy Williams travelled with her daughter Megan from their home in Abergavenny, Wales, after meeting the Queen during her Golden Jubilee.
Lucy, 45, said: “I felt it was important to give our sympathies to the Queen as well. Their marriage of 73 years is an inspiration to all of us.”
Artist Kaya Mar, 65, from south-east London, had arrived early with an oil painting of Philip he painted last week, having met the Duke 20 years ago.
He said: “He was hard-working and dedicated to this country, and I think people will finally realise his value.”
Michaela Gregory, 32, a childminder, brought her girls Bellarose, eight, and Esmae, five, from their home in nearby Datchet.
She said: “The Duke did so much work for the country and I think for the family he kept them all together.
“We really wanted to show our support for the Queen at this hard time.”
A community club in Leeds was among scores of organisations across the UK with connections to the
Duke of Edinburgh to mark his funeral service.
Six members and volunteers of Leeds PHAB Club gathered outside the Prince Philip Centre, named after the Duke who was instrumental in starting it in 1969.
Honorary secretary Ann Hart said the Duke last came for afternoon tea on the club’s 40th anniversary, in 2011.
She said: “He was just an absolutely fantastic man.
“He was really interested in anything you did. He wanted to know the be-all-and-endall of everything. We’ve had his lifetime’s interest.”
Meanwhile, nine-year-old Noah Wall, who has severe spina bifida and special needs, donned a bowler hat, shirt and tie at his Carlisle home to mark the occasion.
Noah, a patron of Variety, the charity that Philip co-founded, said he felt “proud to be British” watching the funeral.
Tribute was also paid by Sir Nicholas Soames, grandson of wartime prime minister Sir Winston Churchill, who first met the Duke when he was 12.
“It’s one of the great privileges of my life that I had the chance to know him a little bit,” he said. “He was a completely authentic person, what you saw is what you got.”