Princess Anne the only female behind the hearse

[jeanne16]

While the funeral was beautiful, I couldn’t help feeling annoyed that Princess Anne was the only female to walk behind the hearse. Surely all the grandchildren could have been included. Instead we see Beatrice, Eugenie and Zara tottering along on high heels. It would have been so much better to see them take an equal place with the men.

Technically, if the Queen, Charles, William and George die (George has no children), then Charlotte is next? So she's actually far more important to the throne than the likes of Anne or Andrew or Edward?
God almighty, imagine the stress Kate is under trying to rear future and potential monarchs! I'm on another thread discussing the merits of parenthood. To have the added dimension of them being Kings or Queens, if fucking sending me into an imagined nervous breakdown.

James is Edward's son.

From the small amount of footage we have seen of Princess Charlotte, she is 'spirited'. I suspect she'd be more at home shooting deer than sitting on a throne. George seems altogether more sombre. William also seems to have the weight of the world on his shoulders while Harry enjoys relative freedom from the shackles of responsibility.

This is my favourite royal!

@Arbadacarba

Why just the three oldest?

Elders taking precedence is the fundamental principle on which the Royal Family operates.

Zara Tindall is older than William or Harry. She was born in 1981.

Peter, Zara and William are the 3 oldest grandchildren.

RoisinL

Yes - I should really have said males taking precedence over females, and then elders taking precedence.

I should think it’s personal choice. Anne wanted to do it, as did grandsons William and Harry. Zara, Eugenie and Beatrice probably didn’t.

I agree that putting Peter Phillips between W&H isn’t about preventing a fight about limiting damaging photo opportunities. Over the course of the walk there will be hundreds of seconds of footage and even the best trained royal will have changes of micro expression. If they’re both in the same shot then all the tabloids have to do is go through the footage frame and pick the one where the facial expressions of a moment support the picture they want to tell.

It’s like when a paparazzo fires off a burst of shots at a celeb exiting a night club and pick the one that catches them mid-blink to make them look pissed.

@LadyIsabellaWrotham

I agree that putting Peter Phillips between W&H isn’t about preventing a fight about limiting damaging photo opportunities. Over the course of the walk there will be hundreds of seconds of footage and even the best trained royal will have changes of micro expression. If they’re both in the same shot then all the tabloids have to do is go through the footage frame and pick the one where the facial expressions of a moment support the picture they want to tell.

It’s like when a paparazzo fires off a burst of shots at a celeb exiting a night club and pick the one that catches them mid-blink to make them look pissed.

They were chatting afterwards. Massive plus is that no lip reading was possible.

@lljkk

er, from what I've read Eugenie gave birth almost 2 months ago Zara had her 3rd child (healthy full term) so quickly (weeks ago) that they were born on the bathroom floor.

I would be bemused if I were either Z or E & people were saying "Oh you poor thing you can't possibly stand around or walk 10 minutes outdoors, you only just gave birth!" I don't care where they walked, but very surprised folk think Z&E are such delicate flowers.

and as for "they are just an ordinary family in their grief", Pfffffttt!! Yeah we all have televised funerals for our loved ones (goldfish bowl!) with marching military bands and grand grounds and long commenting threads on our facial expressions in social media etc. Every family funeral I've been to has been just like that.

This really is not a pleasant post.

In totally a different direction, I would love Princess Anne to take the throne instead of Charles.

@Isthereaduckinthehouse

This is my favourite royal!

She does seem very vibrant! I can't believe the pink flamingo woman at the end of the video actually encouraged Charlotte to hug her though, that's really inapproproate; who hugs random small kids?!

The procession was basically the male family with princess Anne, who I imagine wanted to walk rather than being the only one of Prince Philip's children not to be part of the procession. Then you have the three eldest grandsons (with Peter in the middle as the eldest, not just for his peacekeeping skills) since the only grandson not to walk was James who is only 13 and they probably didn't want him to have to walk. Then rather than have Earl Snowden left walking alone, Anne's husband (who also has the naval connection) joined him to even out the numbers.

If this was done in normal times perhaps Anne wouldn't have walked in the procession as she would have been able to travel in the car with the Queen and sit with/support her. But since that was not allowed she decided to take her place behind her father's coffin.

Then you get to the practicalities of having everyone walking. Eugenie and Zara have both given birth in the last couple of months so may not have wanted to walk or felt physically able to walk in the procession especially without their husbands - this wasn't just a leisurely stroll in the park where they could go at their own pace/stop if they needed to. That would have left Beatrice as the only other adult grandchild to walk and she was visibly upset when arriving at the Chapel so I imagine she would not have wanted to walk alone without her husband to support her.

Then you get to the partners - if Charles and Edward had Camilla and Sophie walking with them then it would have drawn attention to the fact Andrew was walking alone (plus I doubt Sophie would have walked as it would have meant leaving her children to walk into in the Chapel alone). Then with Kate it would have drawn attention to the fact that Peter is alone and Meghan couldnt travel, so you would have the awkward arrangement of either having Peter walk alone ahead of William and Kate and Then Harry alone behind them or have someone walk "out of order" to accommodate a 2:2 formation of William and Kate and Peter and Harry etcetc

So in the end keeping to the traditional formation of Prince Philip's eldest male family as well as his only daughter was the most logical and sensible option for the procession considering the limited numbers.

God, there are many reasons, Royal Hierarchy, family Hierarchy etc etc.
The very simplest being, some just didn't want to!

We are told that Prince Philip planned the funeral some time ago. He would not have known which grand-daughters and wives of grandsons might be pregnant or just given birth on any given date, so easier to say none to walk. If one were pregnant but not announced it, it would “have forced their hand” in declaring their private business.

Assuming Sophie would be needed to be with her children, the only woman who didn't walk who might have done was Camilla. Maybe Philip didn't want her to or, given how unpopular she was, perhaps he didn't want Camilla and the Queen subjected to comments about her walking or not walking.

@Daisydrum

In totally a different direction, I would love Princess Anne to take the throne instead of Charles.

She would be great.

And to preempt those who will tell me pregnant women can walk, remember the original walk would have been the same as for Diana's funeral, so a fair distance across London, not just down the hill in Windsor Castle.

You say- 'surely all the grandchildren could've walked' - Princess Anne is not a grandchild so the grandchildren don't have equal standing to her.

@SnowdaySewday

We are told that Prince Philip planned the funeral some time ago. He would not have known which grand-daughters and wives of grandsons might be pregnant or just given birth on any given date, so easier to say none to walk. If one were pregnant but not announced it, it would “have forced their hand” in declaring their private business.

Assuming Sophie would be needed to be with her children, the only woman who didn't walk who might have done was Camilla. Maybe Philip didn't want her to or, given how unpopular she was, perhaps he didn't want Camilla and the Queen subjected to comments about her walking or not walking.

The procession was cut down considerably so we don’t know exactly who would have walked had it been as planned

Read somewhere that it is protocol for oldest grandson to walk in the middle

@jeanne16

While the funeral was beautiful, I couldn’t help feeling annoyed that Princess Anne was the only female to walk behind the hearse. Surely all the grandchildren could have been included. Instead we see Beatrice, Eugenie and Zara tottering along on high heels. It would have been so much better to see them take an equal place with the men.

Why on earth do you feel that you have the right to be ‘annoyed’ about the details of a stranger’s funeral?

I read somewhere it is protocol for the eldest to go in the middle with next eldest to his right then next to his left.
So that explains why Peter as the eldest was in the middle flanked by William and harry. At birth Peter was 5th in line to the throne.
It also makes sense to have this arrangement when you see the positions of the children in front ie Charles and Anne as oldest then Andrew and Edward as youngest.
Earl Snowden is princess margarets son so the only other grandson of the former King.
James Viscount Severn is the only other grandson of ER & PP but is is very young so they probably felt best to leave him out.
As for the girls well Zara only gave birth about a month ago and Eugenie a month before that, Louise is also very young which would have left Beatrice standing out.
As others have said with a small congregation it would have left a small gathering at the church.

@lljkk

Was it just the descendants who had military service (or titles) who walked behind hearse?

No.

Peter Phillips doesn't. Or Snowdon

It was all children and male grandchildren and other family mourners

I was going to say that traditionally funerals seem to be a very male domain. My grandma didn't even go to my grandad's as she thought it improper. My mum though as their only child walked into church behind the coffin. I walked behind my aunt's (dad's sister) coffin as her next of kin. So I'm going to guess in many cases a mixture of tradition and personal preference now dictates what happens.

@Isthereaduckinthehouse

From the small amount of footage we have seen of Princess Charlotte, she is 'spirited'. I suspect she'd be more at home shooting deer than sitting on a throne. George seems altogether more sombre. William also seems to have the weight of the world on his shoulders while Harry enjoys relative freedom from the shackles of responsibility.

I've thought that Charlotte seems more like Anne and George is like Charles.