Queen Elizabeth II bids farewell to her late husband Prince Philip during a royal funeral limited by coronavirus rules.
The Duke of Edinburgh, who died at the age of 99 on April 9, was buried in the royal vault of St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle after a 50-minute service attended by only 30 guests.
The queen, 94, seen for the first time since her death, made a solitary figure, seated in mourning black, with a black mask edged in white. A close family, also in mask, sat socially distanced in the historic 15th-century Gothic chapel.
Philip, described by the royal family as ‘the grandfather of the nation’, was Britain’s longest-serving royal consort and was married to the Queen for 73 years.
The last high-profile funeral for a senior royal was for the Queen’s mother, who died in 2002, aged 101.
But unlike then, when more than a million people gathered outside Westminster Abbey in central London to watch the grim spectacle, the audience was noticeably absent from Saturday’s ceremony.
The coronavirus pandemic has forced hasty revisions to the well-prepared plans for the death of the Duke, dubbed “Operation Forth Bridge,” stripping public elements to prevent large crowds from gathering.
Government guidelines limited the number of mourners, and a quartet performed hymns the Duke chose for himself in a sterile nave devoid of seats.