Road blocked off as crowds converge on castle
Tributes to Prince Philip paid at Windsor and in church services up and down the United Kingdom
‘For the Royal family, as for every other, no words can reach into the depth of sorrow that goes with bereavement’
‘The Duke would make an off-colour remark but if somebody challenged him, you would enter into an amazing conversation’
No one was meant to be there. Signs around Windsor called for restraint among the public grieving for Prince Philip, asking people to “not gather at royal residences”.
But by lunchtime yesterday, so many people had come to lay flowers for the Duke of Edinburgh that Castle Hill, the street to Windsor Castle, had to be blocked off for safety. “There were just too many vehicles and too many people,” said a staff member. “It was too dangerous – we had a few near misses this morning.”
Measures are expected to stay in place for the rest of the week, with mourners instead having to take a detour along the high street then onto the Long Walk.
“We didn’t expect the visitors’ entrance to be closed off ”, said Catherine Crampton, 61, who came from her home in Windsor to lay flowers with her daughter and two granddaughters. “We were able to lay flowers eventually after [walking for] about 10 minutes ...We wanted to be here to pay our respects.”
It was a day where the Duke was remembered in church services up and down the country. In a service at Canterbury Cathedral, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, focused on the personal loss to the Royal family.
“For the Royal family, as for every other, no words can reach into the depth of sorrow that goes with bereavement”, he said, and the pain caused by the Duke’s death was “not obliterated by the reality of a very long life remarkably led”.
He said the Duke’s life had been “inspiring” – but warned people not to exaggerate. “The Duke would have been the first to harrumph strongly at over-spiritualisation of the world he found, let alone of himself ”, he said.
Crathie Kirk, Aberdeenshire, yesterday held a service for Prince Philip, who had frequently worshipped at the church during visits to Balmoral. A restricted group of just 30 congregants came together to hear a sermon from Rev Kenneth Mackenzie, who spoke of how the Duke’s death was a loss to the local community, according to the BBC.
In Chester Cathedral, a service of thanksgiving was attended by the High Sheriff and Lord Mayor of Cheshire. “Let us offer thanks to our heavenly Father, his example of duty and commitment, his leadership and wisdom and his faithfulness and loyalty to God which we have witnessed through his life”, said the Very Revd Dr Tim Stratford, Dean of Chester, in his welcome.
The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, focused on the intimate relationships of the Duke in a service from York Minster. In his sermon, he spoke about how the Queen described her husband as her “rock”. “I suppose [that] means that she found in him a strength and a dependability and a security, even a foundation, upon which life could be built,” he said. “And we all know that the most extravagantly beautiful buildings require the firmest foundations.”
He went on to draw comparisons between Prince Philip living in his “adopted home” of the UK and how Jesus reached out to the Apostle Thomas to “form a new household and a new humanity where the old boundaries and divisions no longer count”.
Meanwhile Cottrell’s predecessor, Dr John Sentamu, defended the Duke’s “gaffes” on The Andrew Marr Show on the BBC, saying that they were part of his love for debate and he was always looking for someone to challenge him. “Behind those gaffes was an expectation of a comeback”, said Sentamu.
Unfortunately, this did not always happen as people could be “too deferential to Philip” because of his status. “He would make an off-colour remark but if somebody challenged him, you would enter into an amazing conversation,” he said. “The trouble was that, because he was the Duke of Edinburgh, the husband of the Queen, people had this deference.”
Prayers were said to Prince Philip at the Receiving of the Official Wreath at a short service held at noon on Saturday at Winchester Cathedral, Hampshire, which was live streamed to members of the public at home.
Back in Windsor, the public kept coming. While members of the Royal family gathered for their own small service at All Saints Chapel, a separate church confusingly named All Saints Church just a couple of miles away, dedicated their worship to the Duke.
Reverend Peter Wilson of All Saints Church said he had prayed with the Duke several times. Wilson described him as “a most interesting and stimulating person”, who has left a great legacy in the town, including founding a debating salon in the grounds of Windsor Castle. “He had a tremendous influence and founded St. George’s House here in Windsor, which is a great centre of bringing people together for all sorts of different reasons”, said Wilson. “He was very direct and no-nonsense, which was a good thing.”
Outside the castle walls the crowds spilled out down the high street, all the way to the train station. By lunchtime, the flowers were six bouquets deep.
Around noon, a group of 13 veterans of the Household Division arrived – on motorbikes. Mick Thomas, president of the Household Division Veteran Riders’ Club, said: “We’ve all spent a large portion of our career guarding the Royal family, among other things, and so we all held him in high respect”.
With Thomas was John Shipton, who was in the Household Division and also a guard. He recalled the Duke’s sense of humour. “I turned up to a royal function with a cane as I’d been injured not that long before”, he said. “The Duke told him: ‘I hope you’ve got a ruddy rubber bottom for that thing, or you’ll ruin my dance floor’.”
The mourners weren’t all locals, either, people came from far and wide. Adam Drozd flew in from Poland to “do his duty” and leave flowers at the castle gates. “I feel very proud of having paid my respects,” he said.
Eventually, as rain and briefly sleet arrived, the public slipped away. But they’ll be back next Saturday.