The funeral preparations are underway for Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II’s husband, who died on Friday aged 99.
According to the BBC, the ceremonial royal funeral will be held at St George’s Chapel, on the grounds of Windsor Castle, at 3 pm on Saturday, 17th April. The event will be televised.
Prince Philip is reported to have requested a funeral of minimal fuss and will not lie in state – where members of the public would have been able to view his coffin.
Instead, he will lie at rest in the private chapel at Windsor Castle until the day of the funeral.
The duke’s coffin is draped in his personal flag, his standard. The flag represents elements of his life, from his Greek heritage to his British titles. A wreath of flowers has also been placed on the coffin.
When the duke got engaged to the then Princess Elizabeth in 1946, he renounced his Greek title and became a British citizen, taking his mother’s anglicised name, Mountbatten.
The Mountbatten family is therefore also represented on the standard, alongside the castle from the arms of the City of Edinburgh – he became Duke of Edinburgh when he married.
The duke will have a ceremonial funeral, rather than a state funeral. There is a subtle difference – state funerals are usually reserved for monarchs, although wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill was given a state funeral. The Queen Mother had a ceremonial funeral in 2002, as did Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997.
Coronavirus restrictions on crowds and numbers attending funerals mean the duke’s ceremonial funeral will be much lower key than if it had happened in other times – although the Palace says this very much “reflects the duke’s wishes” and it will still “celebrate and reflect” a life of service.
On the day of the funeral, the coffin will be moved from the private chapel to the State Entrance of Windsor Castle. It will be placed on a modified Land Rover, that the duke himself helped design, to be carried the short distance to St George’s Chapel.
At 2.40 pm, the coffin will be carried out onto the Quadrangle and placed onto the Land Rover.
At 2.45 pm, the procession begins. The Land Rover will be flanked by pallbearers from the Royal Marines and other regiments and corps associated with the duke. Members of the Royal Family, including the Prince of Wales, will walk behind the coffin. The Queen will travel separately to the chapel for the service.
The procession, led by the band of the Grenadier Guards, will move from the Quadrangle to Chapel Hill and down to Horseshoe Cloister.
The route will be lined by personnel from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, The Highlanders, 4th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland and the Royal Air Force.
Guns will be fired by The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery from the East Lawn throughout, as a bell tolls in the Curfew Tower, at the west end of the castle.
At 2.53 pm, the Land Rover will arrive at West Steps of St George’s Chapel and met by a guard of honour and band from the Rifles Regiment, who will play the national anthem.
Members of the Household Cavalry will line the West Steps and a Royal Navy “piping party” will pipe a nautical call known as “the Still” as the coffin is carried up the steps to the chapel.