Prince Philip: Queen Elizabeth II led the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral

LONDON.- After a week of mourning, the private funeral of Prince Philip. Queen Elizabeth II has said goodbye to her husband at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle for more than seven decades.

After a minute of silence to commemorate the death of a key figure in the British monarchy, the coffin of Philip, who died at the age of 99 on April 9 at Windsor Castle, has been moved to St George’s Chapel in Castle in a Land Rover designed by the prince himself. .

Due to the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19, inside the Chapel of San Jorge, only the 30 people, including the Queen Isabella II, Philippe’s widow and her four sons.

Prince Charles, heir to the throne, and Felipe’s three other sons, Ana, Andrés and Eduardo, walked behind in the eight-minute procession to the chapel. Prince William and his brother Prince Henry, who returned from the United States to attend the funeral, walked separately by their cousin Peter Phillips.

They are all dressed in mourning and, in the open-air procession, none of them wore chinstrap, as well as military personnel participating in the ceremony. They only put on the black mask when entering the chapel next to the coffin.

Inside the temple, where the procession was received amid chants, all participants were seated in well-spaced seats, in accordance with pandemic restrictions. On the coffin there was only a flag, a bouquet of flowers and a Felipe cap and a military saber.

“His life has been a blessing for all of us”said Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, opening the ceremony.

The celebrants then read biblical texts, including the one referring to the resurrection of Lazarus.

The Queen, the 94-year-old monarch, standing to the right of the coffin, wearing a black hat and chinstrap, kept her head bowed for much of the ceremony and cameras could barely capture her face. She was left alone in the royal vault of the old chapel when her husband’s coffin was lowered, due to Covid-19 restrictions.

“She is the queen, she will behave with extraordinary dignity and extraordinary courage as she always does. And, at the same time, she will fire someone with whom she had been married for 73 years, ”said the Archbishop of Canterbury before the start of the ceremony.

During the service, a choir of four singers, three of whom are lay secretaries of the choir of St. George’s Chapel, was led by James Vivian. The organ was played by Luke Bond, Assistant Director of Music at St George’s Chapel.

The choir sang the Russian anthem Kontakion of the Dead, when the coffin was transferred to the royal vault.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s remains will remain there until the Queen’s death. The couple will then be transferred to the Chapel of the Memorial to King George VI, father of Elizabeth II.

Philip, who married Elizabeth in 1947, helped the young Queen adapt the monarchy to the changing world of the post-WWII era when the loss of the empire and the decline of deference challenged the fiercest royal family. view of the world. Now the widowed Queen as she grapples with one of the royal family’s most serious crises in decades: accusations of racism and neglect by her grandson Harry and American wife Meghan .

Much of the media attention will be focused on Harry and his first public appearance with the Royal Family since the couple gave an explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey last month.

The palace stressed that while the occasion will have the full magnitude that marks the death of an important member of royalty, it is always an opportunity for a grieving family to fire their husband, father, grandfather. and his great-grandfather.

Reuters and AFP agencies

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