LONDON – As he wished, the funeral of the Prince Philip they will be in a minor tone, reserved. But the one in Windsor Castle tomorrow will still be an extraordinary, unique and perhaps unrepeatable ceremony, which Philip has meticulously prepared for 18 years, and now the details are discovered. The ingredients are all there: only thirty close guests (the prime minister Boris Johnson he pulled back to leave a place for the family), while the subjects were asked not to go to the place in the name of the anti-pandemic regulations; then William e Harry, who after the quarrels of recent months will walk close but not side by side, because in the middle there will be the cousin Peter Phillips, the eldest son of Princess Anne and her first husband Captain Mark Phillips. And then there Queen Elizabeth, alone, dressed in black and with a mask all the time (as for the other guests), with her son Carlo and the rest of the family at least two meters away due to restrictions against Covid. Who knows how many memories and thoughts will shake the mind of the lonely Elizabeth, already a week without her beloved Philip.
The places of the funeral
At least, it will all be as his spouse had asked and planned, who died last Friday at the age of 99 and would have turned one hundred in June. The Duke of Edinburgh’s last trip will be first and foremost on the Land Rover Defender TD5 130, a military “ruck” rather than an elegant hearse. It is no coincidence that Filippo chose it personally, he modified it over the years thinking about this day and had it painted dark green in honor of the military corps, which will be central to this ceremony. Because when the prince is buried at the end of the funeral in the royal crypt under the choir of the Chapel of St. members of the Navy to prepare for action, which will be played by the Royal Navy’s own trumpeters.
The rest of the music and songs, also chosen by the prince, will be of the same theme. So Filippo wanted to pay homage to the military and also to his own past, since he was in service in the Navy during the Second World War. The Royal Navy bagpipes will resound, with the historic anthem “Eternal father, strong to save” in memory of the war dead, and other war songs, up to the national anthem.
Before arriving at St George’s Chapel, Philip’s coffin will be transported to another private chapel in Windsor Castle where he has rested so far. Here there will be a short procession of about half a kilometer which will last 8 minutes. In front of and alongside the Land Rover will march the band of Grenadier Guards, the infantry regiment of the British army, the major general in command of the Household Division and other military leaders. Behind, all the closest family members. In the front row his sons Carlo, Prince of Wales, and Anna, royal princess. Immediately behind, in the second row, the rest of the offspring of Elizabeth and Philip: Andrea, Duke of York, recently overwhelmed by allegations of sexual assault on minors as part of the Epstein scandal, and Edoardo, Earl of Wessex.
THE PROCESSION
In front of the coffin
- The band of the Grenadier Guards, the infantry regiment of the British army
- Major General in command of the Household Division
- Military leaders
Behind the coffin
- Royal family members
- Relatives of the Duke of Edinburgh
- The queen
Still behind, a row of three, which certainly will attract the attention of the world in search of every little detail, with the mind at the tragic funeral of Lady Diana on 6 September 1997: that is, side by side in order, Prince William, Peter Phillips and Harry, who has just returned from the United States without Meghan because she is pregnant with the second child of the Dukes of Sussex. Finally, a row behind, the Earl of Snowdon, son of Princess Margaret, sister of Elizabeth who died in 2002 at the age of 72, and Sir Timothy Laurence, husband of Princess Anne. All, for the first time in centuries, will not wear military uniforms or clothes: a favor to Harry, whose military titles were revoked by the Queen after her flight to California, and also to avoid further embarrassment, as Andrea would have instead worn the solemn uniform.
Elizabeth, on the other hand, will not participate in the procession at 2.45 pm tomorrow. Because at 14.41 local time, as soon as her beloved husband’s coffin comes out of the small private chapel, she will enter the Bentley state limo and head to St George’s Chapel, where Harry and Meghan got married about three years ago, waiting for the coffin, whose arrival is expected at 14.53, together with the archbishop of Canterbury who will attend the ceremony. On the altar there will be sewn on cushions all the honors and medals of Philip, including the Order of the Elephant, the most exalted in Denmark, and that of the Savior, the highest Order of merit in modern Greece. At 15 a minute of silence, throughout the United Kingdom. Then we will begin to say the last farewell to the eternal Philip.
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