As they mourned Prince Philip, who through 73 years of marriage to Queen Elizabeth II helped maintain a monarchy that many in the modern world saw as out of place, the royal family and nation struggled to give him their final honors pay amid a pandemic when mass gatherings are banned.
Honors and condolences came from all over Britain and around the world, and small crowds gathered in front of Windsor Castle, where the 99-year-old prince died, and in front of Buckingham Palace in London, despite rules that forbade gatherings of more than six people outside . Many of the gathering put bouquets of flowers at the boundary gates.
Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, will not be in public. His funeral takes place in St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle rather than a much larger and more public venue like Westminster Abbey in London. Due to the pandemic, it will not be open to the public. Further details are expected to be released on Saturday.
His death follows a traumatic 13 months in which Covid-19 killed more than 150,000 Britons – by far the highest official number in Europe – and social distancing requirements have taken the usual commemorations from millions of survivors. Now it is the nation’s most prominent family dealing with the same subject. The UK currently does not allow more than 30 people to attend a funeral.
The hushed treatment of Philip’s death not only reflects the time, but also the prince, who occasionally enjoyed draining the stuffy pomp that surrounds the monarchy as well as the self-important expressions of others, pointing out that he was only showing himself to be significant viewed as an extension of his wife.
His predilection for abusive and bigoted comments and the image of him as a cold father made Philip a somewhat problematic public figure for the now 94-year-old Queen and the royal family. However, by the 1990s, his controversies were overshadowed by those of his children, and his growing age made his sharp tongue irritating or simply more irrelevant than offensive to many people.
The prince’s devotion to the queen during the longest marriage in British royal history, despite some rocky times at the beginning, and the maintenance and modernization of the monarchy enhanced his popularity, as did his persistent adherence to a schedule of charities, ribbon cuts, and travel right up to his 90s. He received support from the popular series “The Crown”, in which he matured into a wise and committed, if emotionally distant, figure.
Again and again people who pay tribute on Wednesday quoted Philip’s obligation to duty.
“I just have so much respect for Prince Philip and everything he’s done,” said Britta Bia, 53, in front of Buckingham Palace, the headquarters of the royal household. “I have so much respect for the royal family. I think they did so much for charity, and I think they were senior citizens of the Commonwealth. “
Philip served in the Royal Navy and saw combat during World War II. “Out of this conflict, he adopted an ethic of service that he applied during the unprecedented changes of the post-war era,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at 10 Downing Street.
In a statement, President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden said: “The impact of his decades of dedicated public service is evident in the worthy causes he has given, as the patron of the environmental efforts he advocates, to the members of the armed forces he serves supported, among the young people he inspired, and much more. “
Chancellor Angela Merkel quoted the Prince’s “straightforwardness and his sense of duty”.
Last month, the royal family experienced an unusually painful and public outpouring of inner tensions when Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, gave Oprah Winfrey an interview explaining their clashes at the palace and their decision to move to California. Philip, Harry’s paternal grandfather, was not mentioned as a factor, but royals defenders attacked the young couple for stressing the family at a time when Philip was hospitalized and appeared to be ill.
The decision not to give Philip a state funeral and leave him in the state is what he wanted, according to the College of Arms, part of the royal household that helps organize state events. The last wife of a late monarch, Queen Elizabeth’s mother, also known as Elizabeth, was in the state after her death in 2002.
“It is regrettably asked that the public not attempt to attend or attend any of the events that make up the funeral,” the College of Arms said in a statement.
The palace said Philip died peacefully and did not cite a specific cause, but he did not have a coronavirus. He had been hospitalized several times in the past decade, including one for treatment for a blocked coronary artery. In an increasingly frail condition, he resigned from his public duties in 2017.
That year he was hospitalized for four weeks and had an operation on March 3, which the palace described as just pre-existing heart disease. He was also treated for an unspecified infection. He was released on March 16, just 24 days before his death.
Elian Peltier, Stephen Castle, Derrick Bryson Taylor, Geneva Abdul, Alex Marshall and Daniel Victor contributed to the coverage.
