Elizabeth II and the United Kingdom bade farewell on Saturday April 17 to Prince Philip, who for more than seven decades had tirelessly served the crown and supported the Queen, in a small committee ceremony due to pandemic and with military accents.

The coffin of the husband of Queen Elizabeth II for 73 years was driven to St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in a specially fitted Land Rover.

Prominent members of the royal family, including Princes Charles, William and Harry, followed the Defender T130 painted in military green on foot, with the Queen taking her seat in an official Bentley.

The ceremony, without an audience and without a procession, began after a minute of silence observed across the country at 3 p.m. local (2 p.m. GMT) and followed, in Windsor, by a cannon firing.

Royal vault

Prince Philip's coffin was lowered into the royal vault of Saint George's Chapel.

The Duke of Edinburgh's remains will remain there until the Queen joins them when he dies.

The spouses thus reunited will then have as their final abode the chapel of the Memorial to King George VI, father of Elizabeth II.

Died "peacefully" eight days ago, the husband of the queen, known for his outspokenness and his humor - sometimes flirting with racism or sexism -, would have been 100 years old on June 10.

Funeral of Prince Philip: "For a minute the British world has come to a standstill"

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The queen loses the one who was, in her own words, her "strength" and her "support", the one who, since the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1952, had remained in retreat to support his wife unwaveringly and become a pillar of the monarchy - and for the royal family a patriarch.

With the circumstances helping, the Duke of Edinburgh's wish to avoid a funeral with great pomp was respected even more than he initially imagined.

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the public has been urged not to congregate in front of the royal residences.

Princes William and Harry talk to each other

For the Windsors, this funeral was also an opportunity to reunite after the recent crises.

It is the first time since his thunderous withdrawal from the monarchy and his departure across the Atlantic that Prince Harry has reunited with the royal family in public, after accusations of racism and indifference that he and his wife have made. worn during a resounding interview with Oprah Winfrey.

He appeared alongside his older brother, William, and his father, Prince Charles.

At the very end of the ceremony, the two brothers walked next to each other and spoke to each other.

Pregnant with their second child, Harry's wife Meghan Markle has remained in the United States on the advice of her doctor.

She followed the ceremony on television.

With AFP

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