Friends from around the world mourn and pay their respects
Sydney and New Zealand organise a 41-gun salute while Canada enters eightday mourning period
The bell in the Peace Tower tolled 99 times, one for each year of the Duke’s life
SCOTT MORRISON, the prime minister of Australia, attended a service at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney yesterday which included prayers for the Royal family and a naval hymn in honour of the Duke of Edinburgh.
“On Prince Philip’s many visits to Australia, we have come to know him as a man of compassion and service, personal warmth, intellectual curiosity and generous spirit,” the Rev Kanishka de Silva Raffel said at the service.
Flags were lowered to half-mast at Parliament House in Canberra, where a 41-gun salute took place on Saturday, and on Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Across the Tasman Sea in New Zealand, a ceremony took place yesterday in the country’s capital, Wellington, also featuring a 41-gun salute.
Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister, said the Duke had a strong link with the country’s military institutions as well as civilian organisations.
“It is fair to say, it will be a hugely significant loss for New Zealand, and those organisations that were supported by Prince Philip,” she said, adding that the Duke visited New Zealand 10 times.
She said a memorial would be held in New Zealand for the Duke after his funeral in Britain on Saturday.
In Canada, the former premier, Jean Chrétien, whose wife died in September after 63 years of marriage, reflected on the task faced by the Queen.
“She is a very courageous and intelligent and dedicated person,” he said in an interview on The West Block, a political talk show.
“So she would face the storm and it’s going to be difficult. I went through that – for me, it was 63 years of marriage and five years of friendship.
“And this is even longer for the Queen and Prince Philip. But, you know, with the help of our family and so on, she would have faced the reality.
“She will do it with grace and courage and discretion.”
Mr Chrétien said he planned to write to the Queen to share his condolences.
“I will tell her that I had great respect for her husband, who was a great public servant,” he said.
“He served all his life. He started in the Army when he was a kid and he stayed in the public for all his life.”
Canada’s major television networks are expected to broadcast coverage of the Duke’s funeral.
The eight-day mourning period officially began in Canada last Friday with the lowering of the flag on the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and then Canadian flags across the country and around the world. That will end at sunset on the day of the funeral.
The bell in the Peace Tower, the central building at parliament, tolled 99 times, one for each year of the Duke’s life.
Heritage Canada has set up an online book of condolences for Canadians to sign.
Meanwhile in Corfu, floral tributes were left outside the house where the Duke was born.
In the United States, members of the expatriate community said they would observe three minutes’ silence to mark the funeral or raise a Union Jack in tribute.
British diplomatic missions are pointing people to books of condolence to register their sympathy.