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Queen to bid farewell to Prince Philip

Andrew MacAskill and Guy FaulconbridgeAAP
An honour guard drawn from across the UK armed forces will take part in Prince Philip's funeral.
Camera IconAn honour guard drawn from across the UK armed forces will take part in Prince Philip's funeral. Credit: AP

Queen Elizabeth will bid a final farewell to Prince Philip, her husband of more than seven decades, at a ceremonial funeral as the UK holds a minute's silence to mark the passing of a pivotal figure in the British monarchy.

The coffin of Philip, who died aged 99 on April 9 at Windsor Castle west of London, will be driven to the funeral at the castle's St George's Chapel on a specially modified Land Rover.

Prince Charles, heir to the throne, and Philip's other three children will walk behind in procession.

Prince William and his brother Prince Harry - who has returned from the US to attend - will walk separated by their cousin Peter Phillips, evoking memories of the 1997 funeral of Diana when the grieving young princes walked behind their mother's coffin.

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The Queen, who says the death has left a huge void, will be driven behind in a car known as the State Bentley.

In the service, which starts at 3pm (midnight AEST), the 94-year-old monarch will stand alone due to COVID-19 restrictions as her husband's coffin is lowered into the Royal Vault of the ancient chapel.

"She's the Queen, she will behave with the extraordinary dignity and extraordinary courage that she always does. And at the same time, she is saying farewell to someone to who she was married for 73 years," said Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who will help officiate at the service.

Philip, who married Elizabeth in 1947, helped the young Queen adapt the monarchy to the changing world of the post-World War II era as the loss of empire and the decline of deference challenged the world's most prominent royal family.

She has now been widowed just as she grapples with one of the gravest crises to hit the royal family in decades - allegations of racism and neglect by it from her grandson Harry and his US-born wife Meghan.

Much media attention will focus on the royals' behaviour towards Harry as he makes his first public appearance with the family since the couple gave an interview to Oprah Winfrey last month.

In the interview they accused one unnamed royal of making a racist comment and said Meghan's pleas for help when she felt suicidal were ignored.

The couple, who moved to Los Angeles and quit royal duties last year, laid bare their perceptions of the family's attitudes in what amounted to a critique of the old-fashioned customs of an ancient institution.

Meghan said she had been silenced by "the Firm" while Harry said his father, Charles, had refused to take his calls.

Harry said both Charles and his brother William were trapped in the royal family.

Meghan, who is pregnant, will not attend Saturday's funeral as her doctor has advised against it, Buckingham Palace said.

Charles arrived at Windsor Castle on Saturday as did William and his wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, as soldiers and sailors prepared for the procession inside the castle's walls on a day of brilliant spring sunshine.

Mourners will eschew the tradition of wearing military uniforms, a step newspapers said was to prevent embarrassment to Harry, who despite serving two tours in Afghanistan during his army career is not be entitled to wear a uniform because he was stripped of his honorary military titles.

The palace has emphasised that while the occasion will have the due pageantry that marks the passing of a senior royal, it remains an occasion for a mourning family to mark the passing of a husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather.

There will be just 30 mourners inside the chapel for the service because of COVID-19 restrictions.

Archbishop Welby, leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, said he expected the funeral to resonate with the millions of people around the world who have lost loved ones during the pandemic.

British television stations have cleared their schedules to show the funeral and millions are due to watch, though there have been over 100,000 complaints to the BBC over its blanket coverage since Philip died.

Philip was a decorated royal navy veteran of World War II and his funeral, much of which was planned in meticulous detail by the prince himself, will have a strong military feel, with personnel from across the armed forces playing prominent roles.

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