Countess was his loyal friend and confidante for 30 years

THEY became so close during their nearly 30-year friendship that she was known as “and also” on account of her name always appearing on the Duke of Edinburgh’s guest list.

So it was hardly a surprise when the Countess Mountbatten of Burma was included in the 30-strong congregation for Prince Philip’s funeral, hand picked by the Queen.

Also known as Penny Knatchbull, later Lady Romsey and Lady Brabourne, the 68-year-old mother of three was the Duke’s carriage driving partner and one of his closest confidantes.

Yet it emerged yesterday that the Countess was actually representing her husband, the 3rd Earl Mountbatten of Burma who is unwell and therefore unable to attend.

Lord Brabourne, 73, who is godfather to the Duke of Cambridge, was too ill to walk his daughter, the Honorable Alexandra Knatchbull, down the aisle in 2016, leaving it to Prince Charles.

The British peer is the grandson of former Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Louis Mountbatten, the 1st Earl of Burma, a British Royal Navy officer and statesman who was Philip’s Uncle.

The former Viceroy of India and chief of the defence staff acted as a mentor to Charles, who referred to him affectionately as Uncle Dickie, when he was growing up. The royals were left devastated when he was killed in an IRA bomb blast on his fishing boat in County Sligo, in August 1979.

Prince William is understood to have named his youngest child Louis after him.