Queen Elizabeth II has bid farewell to her late husband, Prince Philip, at a royal funeral restricted by coronavirus rules but reflecting his long life of military and public service.
After a 50-minute service on Saturday, attended by just 30 guests, the Duke of Edinburgh, who died on April 9 at age 99, was interred in the Royal Vault at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle
The Queen, seen for the first time since his death, was dressed in mourning black, with a white-trimmed, black face mask while close family, also masked, sat socially distanced in the historic 15th-century Gothic chapel.
The religious service was a simple affair, In keeping with his wishes, there was no sermon, but the service reflected his love of the sea, and long association with the Royal Navy, including hymns and Bible readings.
The Queen, who had been escorted to the chapel by a lady-in-waiting in the royal Bentley, watched from the chapel choir as her husband’s was lowered steadily into the Royal Vault by electric motor.
Members of the British armed forces, in formal dress, lined the procession route, heads bowed, as the cortege passed, as a minute gun rang out across the grounds and a bell tolled.
Philip’s grandsons William and Harry joined the procession, in their first public meeting since a reported falling out about Harry’s shock move to California.
The last high-profile funeral of a senior royal was for the Queen’s mother, who died in 2002, aged 101.
But unlike then, when more than one million people thronged outside Westminster Abbey in central London to watch the sombre pageant, the public was noticeably absent from Saturday’s ceremony.
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