Watch: National minute of silence for Prince Philip
Due to the corona crisis, no public was welcome at the funeral of the prince who died on Friday last week. The service was broadcast on British television.
The select party of thirty attendees included Prince Harry, the Duke of Edinburgh’s grandson. His heavily pregnant wife Meghan has stayed in America. Doctors had advised her not to travel. In early March, the couple put a bomb under their relationship with the British royal family in an interview by Oprah Winfrey.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s body was taken to St. George’s Chapel this afternoon in a Land Rover he designed. According to the BBC, Philip is said to have said to Queen Elisabeth in recent years, “Just put me in the back of a Land Rover and drive me to Windsor.”
As early as 2003, Philip began to interfere with the design of his funeral car. The job would take sixteen years. At the request of the prince, the car was repainted in military green. He also designed the open back on which his chest rested, including the rubber grips on silver metal pins to keep the chest from sliding. The vehicle’s wheel hubs are also green.
As Queen Elizabeth’s husband, Philip is entitled to a state funeral with all the trimmings, but he did not need it himself. Four years ago, the prince took a step back within the British royal family. Since then he has led a secluded life. Philip did not want to be laid out in the hall of Westminster Abbey.
That is why Prince Philip lay in a private chapel until the funeral began. His own flag was draped over his coffin, depicting various elements of his life: his Danish and Greek origins, the marriage to Queen Elizabeth and the castle in Edinburgh. His military cap and sword have also been placed on the chest.
The funeral became a celebration of Philip’s life. On the altar were two orders of knighthood, which also refer to his origins. All of his war medals and regalia are sewn on nine cushions. His close relationship with the Royal Navy, the United Kingdom’s military fleet, was highlighted by, among other things, singing a hymn specifically for mariners.
Just before the ceremony began, a minute of silence was held across the country. Also at London’s Heathrow Airport no planes landed or took off for six minutes.
Issues
Last week, Queen Elisabeth’s palace was the setting for a true costume drama. Tradition has it that the male members of the royal family wear their military uniforms on such occasions. But Elisabeth’s son Andrew and grandson Harry have lost their privileges because of their American connections.
Andrew therefore demanded that he be allowed to dress as an admiral. In the end, Elizabeth decided that no one should wear a uniform. With that decision she protected Harry.
Then another problem arose: Harry and his brother William, after their father Charles the heir to the throne of the United Kingdom, are living in great disagreement. They refused to walk side by side on the procession to St George’s Chapel. The Queen then decided to use Peter Phillips, son of Elisabeth’s only daughter Princess Anne, as a human shield between the two.
The hardest choice was drawing up the list of thirty people in the chapel. Philip wanted three members of the German branch of his family to be present. Shortly after the Second World War, this family connection was sensitive: the family was not welcome at the wedding of Philip and Elizabeth in 1947.
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