Image of Queen all on her own at Prince Philip’s funeral will break the nation’s heart
IT is an image which will break a nation’s heart. The Queen — flanked for 73 years by her companion, her soulmate, her “strength and stay” — saying goodbye to him, alone.
But the Monarch truly is the most remarkable woman.
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The sheer stoicism she showed at the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral needed to be seen to be believed as she sat in isolation in St George’s Chapel due to Covid restrictions.
Yes, a rare tear that she quickly wiped away did fall, but the bravery she summoned today was inspirational.
Alone with her thoughts and memories in the chapel for ten full minutes before the service began, this tiny figure in black, a mask obscuring her face, looked almost lost in those seemingly giant pews.
It was a scene that encapsulated the unnaturalness of life in this pandemic and the pain that has been the hallmark of the past year for so many people.
Even in her grief, like others, she was isolated and socially distanced from her children, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren; everyone who might in other times have brought her comfort.
In fact there was even a moment when stepping out of her car ahead of the funeral procession at 2.52pm, she stopped, lingered and waited for Prince Philip for one last time.
But her grief will not define her.
Throughout her reign, as crises and tragedies have struck, both nationally and within her own family, she has remained strong for others.
Ever resilient, ever composed, she has kept calm and carried on. As she will do now; as Prince Philip would expect her to do.
She is a woman with the courage and the selflessness of a true leader. A woman with values that belong to another era.
She is no stranger to loss. Like anyone who has reached the age she has — just days off 95 — she has lost her precious parents, her sibling and countless friends and relations.
But perhaps the hardest of all was the loss of her father in 1952. The death of those who are taken from us ahead of their time are always the hardest to bear.
It was Prince Philip who broke the news of King George VI’s sudden death to her, when they were in Kenya on a tour of the Commonwealth.
He was the father she adored, and it was news that changed her life — and Prince Philip’s.
Gone was the lovely illusion that she was a naval wife like any other, periodically leaving her two small children with their grandparents while she flew to where her husband was based to spend time with him.
He saw her abject grief on that day. And on many other occasions over the decades of their marriage.
And with his practical, unsentimental, stiff-upper-lip attitude, he will, I have no doubt, have provided succour, comfort and the resolve to keep on going; to keep the tears for private moments and not for public display.
Bereavements in the time of Covid-19 have been agonising for everyone. Grief is universal.
Families unable to come together in the normal way, or to hug one another — simple, basic human needs in times of distress — and the Queen’s is no different from any other.
Royal or not, the funeral is subject to the same restrictions as everyone.
So, most of the elaborate plans known as Operation Forth Bridge, devised decades ago with the help of the Duke himself, had to be shelved because of coronavirus.
The guest list of 800 had to be pared down to 30. And the Queen took a personal hand in all of this to make sure it was still, in essence, the funeral her beloved husband wanted. It reflected his desire for simplicity, for recognition of the military associations he held so dear, and for his wider family to be represented.
His coffin was carried by the specially adapted Land Rover he had designed.
And despite it all being held behind the walls of Windsor Castle with the public urged to stay away, with no singing from the congregation and no ceremonial procession, it was still a spectacle befitting the man whose devotion to duty made such an impact on so many people’s lives.
The Queen was escorted into the chapel by the Dean of Windsor. She cut a picture of isolation as she looked on glumly when her beloved husband’s coffin was placed on the catafalque.
She momentarily bowed her head in respect, her black handbag placed on the seat the Duke sat in just three years ago when the pair witnessed Harry and Meghan’s marriage. That celebration — 1064 days ago — was a distance memory.
On leaving the chapel, the Queen was once again accompanied by the Dean of Windsor.
She walked slowly to an awaiting car clutching the order of service for comfort.
The Queen’s stoicism, even as her husband of 73 years was lowered into the vault, was something to behold.
We should all be proud of this amazing woman.
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Rare farewell
THE Queen rarely attends official funerals but has made touching exceptions for family and friends.
For big funerals of royals or heads of state she usually sends Prince Charles or another close ally. Charles represented her at Pope John Paul II’s Vatican funeral in 2005.
The Queen attended the funerals of her uncle, the Duke of Windsor, in 1972 and his wife, Wallis Simpson, in 1986 as she was her aunt by marriage.
In 1979, she led mourners at the Westminster Abbey funeral of the murdered Lord Mountbatten, her husband’s beloved uncle. As a mark of their friendship, she also went to the 1993 London funeral of her nanny Margaret “Bobo” MacDonald, who was in royal service for 67 years.
In 1997, the Queen attended Princess Diana’s funeral at Westminster Abbey as Diana was family by marriage and her grandchildren’s mum.
She was also at the funeral of her close friend and racing manager Lord Porchester, the 7th Earl of Carnarvon, who died in 2001. And in February 2002 she attended her sister Princess Margaret’s funeral in St George’s Chapel, Windsor, followed in April 2002 by the Queen Mother’s Westminster Abbey service.
In 2004, she went to the Windsor funeral of Princess Alice, her aunt by marriage, and in 2013 attended ex PM Margaret Thatcher’s London service.
Her Majesty led mourners at the funeral of Margaret Rhodes, her first cousin and great companion, in Windsor in 2016 — and in 2019 was at the Highclere funeral of her friend Jeanie, Countess of Carnarvon.
- By Deborah Sherwood