Prince Philip’s funeral on Saturday will be full of pomp, but all eyes are on his grandsons.
The dramatic rift between Prince Harry and the rest of the royal family, especially his brother Prince William, will be seen worldwide during their solemn procession to St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle and during the 50-minute liturgy commemorating the their grandfather’s long life.
(US viewers can watch the observations live on CNN from 9 a.m. EDT and on CBS, NBC and ABC at 9:30 a.m.)
But the woman who caused the rift – Harry’s wife, Meghan Markle – will be nowhere to be seen.
The Duchess of Sussex, in the last months of pregnancy with the couple’s second child, stayed in their California home on a prescription.
Several hundred spectators, including Prince Charles, Prince William and William’s wife Kate, have begun to gather outside Windsor Castle, where Prince Philip’s funeral will begin later Saturday.
The prince’s coffin was moved to the royal house earlier in the day by the Queen’s Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, where Philip was a colonel for 42 years. It is draped with his personal stand, his sword, sea cap and a garland of flowers, The Sun reported.
The scaled-down, COVID-protected ceremony will be attended by just 30 royals. Thousands of spectators are expected to show up, despite warnings urging the public to stay away. The police were willing to close roads if the crowds became too great
Increased security measures have created a ‘Ring of Steel’, including rooftop snipers and armed officers in body armor.
Harry’s return alone to the site of his lavish 2018 wedding to Markle to bury his grandfather is his first trip home since leaving the royal family. Philip’s compassionate strength supported the prince during the heartbreaking funeral of his mother, Princess Diana, when Harry was only 12.
“I’ll walk if you walk,” Philip said to his grandsons when William, then 15, and Harry shrank from joining the procession that followed their mother’s rifle carriage that traveled to Westminster Abbey in 1997.
Two decades later, the princes will repeat that gloomy march as they walk behind the electric Land Rover – built to Prince Philip’s specifications – and take it to its resting place beneath the chapel’s marble floor.
The funeral trip is Harry’s first visit to his homeland since he and Markle gave up royal life a year ago – and his first meeting with his 94-year-old grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II; his father, Prince Charles; brother William; sister-in-law Kate Middleton and the rest of the clan since Sussex’s explosive Oprah Winfrey interview last month.
The royal rift, along with coronavirus considerations, forced the queen to make a slew of last-minute changes to a funeral program – withheld from a royal family – that her 73-year-old husband personally had with military precision. designed prior to April 9th. death at the age of 99.
With only 30 mourners allowed under the UK government’s strict COVID-19 rules, the Queen narrowed down the original 800-person guest list to close relatives: her children and grandchildren, their husbands, a favorite niece and nephew, and a couple of royal nieces and nephews. Philip’s “close confidant,” Penelope Eastwood, Countess Mountbatten of Burma, “will also be in attendance.
According to the Queen’s decision, Harry and William will not walk side by side in the eight-minute funeral procession from Windsor Castle to the chapel’s imposing West Steps. Instead, they are separated by their cousin Peter Phillips, Princess Anne’s son.
Inside the chapel, the mourners will remain socially at a distance during the service, a rule that will keep the warring princes far apart – but will also force the queen to sit alone as she says goodbye to the man she’s my strength and stay called.
And while 700 soldiers will throng the castle grounds to greet the Prince – a Royal Navy veteran who served heroically in World War II – with fusillades, bands, buglers and naval pipers, his sons and grandsons are not allowed to bring their own military uniforms. to wear. for the ceremonies.
That ban came from Buckingham Palace on Thursday to spare Harry the embarrassment of appearing in business attire after his departure from royal duties last year forced him to give up his military appointments.
It also keeps Prince Andrew, whose ties to multi-millionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein led to his 2019 withdrawal from the Royal Navy, from wearing an admiral’s uniform for the observances.
The funeral begins at 10 a.m. Eastern Time, while in Britain a nationwide minute of silence is observed as a military guard of honor carries Philip’s woolen coffin – a nod to his passion for environmental affairs – up the chapel’s entrance steps.
The Prince will be buried in the Chapel’s Royal Vault, where his casket will remain until Queen Elizabeth’s death – when they will be buried together in the George VI Memorial Chapel, the annex where Queen George VI’s mother, mother Queen Elizabeth, and Sister Princess Margaret are buried.