The Queen’s farewell and her kingdom to Prince Philip



Flowers laid in homage to the Duke of Edinburgh, outside Buckingham Palace, London, April 13, 2021. – Tolga Akmen / AFP

The Queen and the United Kingdom bid farewell to Prince Philip this Saturday, during a small committee ceremony due to the pandemic and military accents. Died “peacefully” eight days ago, the husband of the queen, known for his outspokenness and his humor – sometimes flirting with racism or sexism – would have been 100 years old on June 10.

The Duke of Edinburgh will be buried in the grounds of Windsor Castle, where Philip, Corfu-born prince of Greece and Denmark, breathed his last after a life of devoted service to the monarchy since his marriage 73 years ago years, with his “Lilibet”. The queen loses the one who was in her own words her “strength” and her “support”, the one who, since the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1952, had remained in retreat to support his wife unwaveringly and become a pillar for the monarchy, for the royal family a patriarch.

Minute of silence

The circumstances helping, the wish of the Duke of Edinburgh to avoid a funeral with great pomp will be respected even more than he initially imagined. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the public has been urged not to congregate in front of the royal residences. In national mourning since the death of the Duke of Edinburgh on April 9, the United Kingdom is called to observe a minute of silence at 3 p.m. local (4 p.m. in Paris), at the start of the religious ceremony.

For the latter, only 30 people will be present, under the health rules in force in England. Broadcast on television, the funerals, organized in relative simplicity, will reflect the military past proudly carried by the prince who fought in the navy during the Second World War.

Last home

The Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force and the Army will thus be present in Windsor to welcome his coffin – covered with his personal banner and his sword – which will be transported aboard an austere green Land Rover pickup, that the Duke of Edinburgh himself helped to design. The Grenadier Guards Marching Band, of which Philip was colonel for 42 years, will lead the procession to Saint George’s Chapel, where the religious ceremony will be held.

The Dean of Windsor must praise his “unshakeable loyalty” to the Queen, his “courage”, his “strength of soul” and his “faith”, according to excerpts released in advance. The coffin will be lowered into the “Royal Vault”, a crypt where it will remain until the Queen joins it there when he dies. The spouses thus reunited will then have as their final abode the Memorial Chapel of King George VI, father of Elizabeth II. The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the Anglicans, will give the blessing at the end of the service.

Reunion

For the Windsors, this funeral is also an opportunity to reunite after the recent crises. This is the first time since his thunderous withdrawal from the monarchy and his departure across the Atlantic that Prince Harry will find the royal family in public, marked by the shadow of accusations of racism and indifference that he and his wife – even worn in a resounding interview with Oprah Winfrey.

He will notably appear alongside his older brother William and his father Prince Charles. Pregnant with their second child, Harry’s wife, Meghan Markle, remained in the United States on the advice of her doctor.

A cousin between two brothers

United in 1997 behind the coffin of their mother Diana, the two brothers will walk on the same line to follow the coffin of their grandfather. But their cousin Peter Phillips will take place between them, a choice widely commented on in the press.

In terms of clothing, however, the British royal family will endeavor to present a united front. All will be in civilian clothes, a way to avoid distinguishing between Princes Andrew and Harry, both very attached to the army.

Despite two missions in Afghanistan, Harry, ex-captain, is now only allowed to wear his service medals on civilian clothes, after losing his honorary military titles. Even though he still belongs to the Navy, the uniform appearance of Prince Andrew, the Queen’s second son and ex-helicopter pilot, would have looked bad after his withdrawal from the monarchy, due to his friendship with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, prosecuted for trafficking in minors.



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