Prince and Princess take momentous day in their stride and do ‘Gan-gan’ proud
George, nine, and his seven-year old sister, Charlotte, are composed and calm during a draining six hours of public mourning
Both children took several chances to look at the congregation and the spectacle of Westminster Abbey around them
THEY are the future of the Royal family, one day to be entrusted with continuing Queen Elizabeth’s legacy as their grandfather and father will do before them.
Prince George and Princess Charlotte yesterday also took their place in the history books, as they honoured the memory of the great-grandmother they called “Gan-gan”.
The schoolchildren, small and quiet in the midst of the full state funeral, did their family proud, from their flawless bow and curtsey before the coffin to their sheer stamina through an emotionally draining six hours of public mourning.
The Prince, nine, and his seven-yearold sister were allowed to join the senior Royal family in the procession at Westminster Abbey and St George’s Chapel, side by side with their parents the Prince and Princess of Wales.
This could not have been more different to the public mourning the teenage Prince William and Prince Harry went through 25 years ago, when they walked behind the coffin of their mother.
Nestled between their parents, the young Waleses seemed calm and confident, having been asked if they wanted to join in with plenty of time to change their minds.
For a 96-year-old great-grandmother who treasured her family’s part in the stability and continuity of the monarchy, this was a gesture worth making.
The Prince and Princess of Wales had planned carefully for the day.
The children were confirmed as being part of the Westminster Abbey ceremony shortly ahead of time, but were left out of the order of service for the St George’s Chapel service in case the day proved too much for them.
In the end, they made it through; accompanying the Queen’s coffin with the same devotion as their grown-up relatives before them.
In the most solemn of duties, the siblings were on their best behaviour.
Princess Charlotte wore a hat with a black ribbon as she joined the ranks of royal women. A distinctive diamond brooch in the shape of a small horseshoe, pinned to her coat, had been given to her by the late Queen.
The Prince, who will one day be king, wore an immaculate suit and black tie.
The siblings, whose younger brother four-year-old Prince Louis had been left at home, looked after one another, with Charlotte at one point asking George encouragingly whether he had “heard the bells”.
They were first seen in public travelling by car to Westminster Abbey yesterday morning, driven with the Princess of Wales and Queen Consort, their step-grandmother.
Princess Charlotte was dressed as a miniature version of her mother in a fitted coat. At the Great West Door of the Abbey, George and Charlotte waited in perfect stillness with the Princess of Wales as the slow procession of the Queen’s coffin made its way, accompanied by their father.
As it arrived, they bowed and curtsied in a now well-practised gesture.
The Princess took her daughter’s hand to guide her into position, as the Royal family reassembled to a new formation to process up the aisle.
George and Charlotte walked in between their parents, with the nineyear-old seeming to occasionally nudge up against his father for reassurance as they walked. Princess Charlotte clasped her hands carefully in front of her.
Both children took several chances to look at the congregation and the spectacle of Westminster Abbey around them, walking as if in slow motion to the pace set for the bearer party.
During the hour-long service, they made a valiant effort to sing unfamiliar hymns and studied their orders of service carefully
A beat behind their older relatives, they caught sight of the right moment to pay their respects and bobbed obediently
The royal children are thought to be the youngest ever to perform such a duty at a state occasion.
During the hour-long service, they made a valiant effort to sing unfamiliar hymns and studied their orders of service carefully while sermons, readings and blessings were delivered to the congregation and millions watching around the world. As they left the Abbey, stepping into the sunlight, the Countess of Wessex put a steadying arm around her great-nephew Prince George as they watched the coffin move away.
A beat behind their older relatives, they caught sight of the right moment to pay their respects and bobbed obediently. From there, their patience and energy holding out despite their young years, they stepped into the waiting cars for the journey through London.
Rolling past crowds lining the streets, they gazed out of the window making memories that will last a lifetime.
At Wellington Arch, they assembled once again with their family to watch the Queen’s coffin being transferred from gun carriage to hearse for the final stage of her journey.
By the time they were in Windsor, in St George’s Chapel, where they walked in the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex just four years ago, their attendance was no longer a surprise.
They took their rightful place in the procession, through the smaller congregation of Queen Elizabeth’s family, friends and loyal staff.
Princess Charlotte, sitting between her mother and Uncle Harry, adjusted her hat and shared a small smile with the Duke of Sussex.
As God Save the King rang out at the end of an emotional service, the children sang confidently and wordperfect, a prelude to a lifetime of the national anthem ahead of them.
Afterwards, in the grounds of Windsor Castle, Princess Charlotte shook hands and thanked the Dean politely as their car arrived.
“This is us, come on,” the Prince of Wales told his children, climbing in next to them as they began to process all they had seen on the journey back to the castle.
The presence of the children was a reflection of the great-grandmother who so valued the image of her family together.
In life, she had made sure to include Prince George in photographs with her heirs, the Prince of Wales and Duke of Cambridge, as they were then.
For Christmas 2019, the foursome were captured making a Christmas pudding together. For the late Queen’s 90th birthday in 2016, the toddler George stood on a pile of foam blocks to make him tall enough to be in shot for a photograph of all four generations of monarch and future monarchs. In 2018, a photograph of Queen Elizabeth’s greatgrandchildren, taken at Balmoral, a proud George stood by Charlotte waving and cuddling up to the Queen as she cradled the infant Prince Louis.
The siblings have always been brought up to respect the position and traditions of their unusual family.
When she was two, the Princess was seen curtseying to a dignitary after landing on the runway for a visit to Germany, explained by aides as something she had been practising for when she had tea with her great-grandmother.
Now at school together in Windsor, the three children – until recently known collectively as the Cambridges and now as the Waleses – are gradually being introduced into public life.
Their milestone moments including birthdays are shared with the public via a photograph taken by the Princess of Wales, and they are being allowed to take part in very select engagements.
At the Platinum Jubilee, they were seen across the weekend in a series of lively performances that captivated the watching world.
Few might have expected them to be moving up the line of succession so soon. But as their father becomes the heir to the throne, with all the extra pressure that brings, Prince George and Princess Charlotte have already shown themselves ready to stand by him.
The late Queen, who was such a constant source of joy and strength for her own father, would be proud.