Prince Philip’s funeral had the military at its heart – it was a great send-off for a wonderful character
PRINCE Philip’s funeral was a great send-off for a wonderful character I was very lucky to have met several times. He was an unrivalled servant to the crown and the military. It was befitting him.
It was grand yet understated, had the military at its heart and was laced with cheekiness with the converted green Land Rover he requested to carry his coffin.
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It was very much like the man that I am proud to say I’ve met on a number of occasions since winning the VC. I was just sad that I could not be there in person to say farewell.
I watched every second of the funeral, build-up and reaction on TV. In my 20 years in the military, I had never seen anything quite like this.
With 700 military personnel involved — despite only 30 close family members being there — it reflected the great respect the military has for this war hero.
The music at the start was great. It was performed by a tri-service band from the Royal Marines, the Scots Guard and the Royal Air Force. The beautiful sounds against the silence all around was so sad, yet uplifting.
Then the Land Rover arrived and I thought it was fantastic. The pallbearers were all drawn from regiments, corps and air stations close to the Duke’s heart.
Inside the chapel, it was wonderful to see all the banners and the crests associated with the Duke.
He always took a great interest when I met him over the years; always asked me how my injuries were, how my family were and how life was treating me in general.
The last time I met him was at the Victoria Cross and George Cross reunion at the Palace three years ago.
He walked over to see me and my wife and said, “Good to see you” and shook my hand. He looked at me after noting my shake and said, “Are you a Freemason?”.
I am, and we talked about it before he turned to my wife and said, “Is he behaving himself?”, and pointed at me. I said: “I’ll start behaving myself when you start behaving yourself, sir”.
We all burst into laughter. He had a great sense of fun.
Once, we were both guests at the Canadian embassy.
We were standing at the bar and we’d been handed these commemorative books.
I asked him if he’d sign it. He looked at me, shocked and said: “Beharry, you of all people, you can’t do that here. I’ll sign it in private for you.” Sadly I never took him up on the offer.
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I feel great sadness for the Queen. She has also been wonderful to me every time I met her.
You could tell they were extremely close and I really hope she can take solace in what a fantastic servant of crown and country her husband was.
I’ll greatly miss him — as I imagine all who met him will.