HRH The Prince Philip Funeral

[IamnotH]

Watching on BBC 1. Wish Huw would shut up and let us listen to the bands/watch them March.

“Mawkish” is the word that keeps coming to mind here too. It makes me feel that there’s something to be said for the British stiff upper lip. Not everything needs sentimentalising or spelling out. Just quiet acknowledgement.

@HeronLanyon, yes! That's exactly what it feels like. So interesting. I remember going to my grandmother's friend's house to watch Princess Anne's wedding (she had a colour TV, we didn't!) and everyone knew how they were all related and the protocols on state occasions.
Then suddenly it was all Diana's clothes, Charles wanting to be a tampon,and toe-sucking from Fergie
I think, on balance, I prefer the 70s version. I remember my elderly grandparents being horrified at Marina Ogilvy being named after their car (as my Gran liked to say)

I remember my elderly grandparents being horrified at Marina Ogilvy being named after their car

Marina Ogilvy's grandmother, Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, is one of those wider family members who has been forgotten. She was a beauty and a style icon in her day - her wedding dress was proper 1930s elegance. She was a first cousin of Philip on his father's side.

She was widowed young when the Duke of Kent was killed in a plane crash while serving with the RAF in WW2.

She was absolutely beautiful, wasn’t she?

I'm watching it again. Spent so much time crying I didn't always hear the music. Such beautiful sounds.

I thought the music was lovely.

@Antiqueanniesmagiclanternshow

I'm C of E and plenty of people in my congregation genuflect. It does tend to be high church. Some people cross themselves too . There is very little difference between a very high anglican service and a catholic service, right down the bells and smells.

It could have been anything. I think that if was a mark of respect the regalia, they would all have done it.

Quite.

I was brought up in the Catholic Church (70s/early 80s) and it was a rare event when the incense, etc was in evidence at all. If anything, High Anglican services (I've been to a few) are far more Catholic than the Catholic ones! At least in Britain; it varies enormously in different places.

@SoupDragon

I love that he planned everything about his own funeral, even down to designing a landrover hearse

He and the Queen chose matching coffins 30 years ago too. The coffin maker no longer trades but made Freddy Mercury’s coffin too. Solid English oak, lead lined. I felt for the 8 pall bearers carrying over 50 stone ....😳😳

@coodawoodashooda same I can't stop thinking about it all !

Why her lady in waiting couldn't have sat with her I'm not sure

Space.

Can only have 30 people present, so someone else would have lost hero place there.

@SunshineCake me too I cried throughout because of the music and memories of Windsor I daren't watch it again !!

The pallbearers were magnificent.
I remember reading about Diana's funeral, and one of the pallbearers said that they rehearsed for days carrying heavy lead weights, but it was still a massive undertaking to carry the coffin, and they didn't have the steps to negotiate. They did him proud.

I just watched the bagpiper again , it was so moving I cried all over again

I've watched Psalm 104 several times. It was stunning. I really hope it gets widely used.

@Laggartha

“Mawkish” is the word that keeps coming to mind here too. It makes me feel that there’s something to be said for the British stiff upper lip. Not everything needs sentimentalising or spelling out. Just quiet acknowledgement.

I agree. There is a time and a place to acknowledge feelings, and public "emoting" isn't always a good thing.

We seem to be importing the American tendency to share all - that everything has to be publicly aired - it really doesn't, and it doesn't always help someone through a hard patch. I think that there are times when constantly talking things out locks someone on a cycle of "poor me" misery. Sharing sadnesses/problems with a carefully chosen confidante can be useful - but not making everything something to be pored over in public.

It really looked like William was wiping his eyes and immediately Harry rubbed his arm. That is what the media should write about, if they have to say anything, not bang on about Peter in the middle and the previous upsets.

I actually thought it was a very personal and intimate service. I felt a bit like an eavesdropper on a private funeral ( along with millions of others, of course).
My only criticism of the tv coverage (I watched BBC), is that they only briefly showed his medals and insignia on display, they did not show the other flowers (pic in papers today). If they did, I missed it.
I would have liked to have heard some of the preliminary organ music prior to the service (as on the order of service). Obviously, this does not make sense because we heard the bands playing on the green (whichever green courtyard it was).
I would have liked to have had a brief glimpse of the German relatives there, or arriving. There was a pic in the paper, so someone took one. I would have liked the commentator (Huw Edwards) to have mentioned whichever Royal departed in the car, orcarriced at the Chapel, although we were shown the principle Rotals arriving.
Otherwise, I thought the entire service very moving.

Can anyone explain how they worked out who should follow the coffin . Charles was there with the kids but no Camilla yet Princess Anne was there with her husband and son .Also no Prince Edward's wife and kids nor Andrew's kids but Princess Margaret's son was there ???? confused as it only seemed to male relatives apart from Anne ???

@ListeningQuietly

I am not a royalist BUT I am very impressed that Philip and his family planned a funeral that totally complied with the COVID rules that fitted Royal protocols that fitted the national mood that excluded politicians

Me too

Prince Philip decided . Not sure we can ask him now .

But traditionally it’s male members of the family . So his sons, his grandsons ( except the youngest who is only 13) his nephew plus his only daughter and her husband who apparently he had a lot of time for and was in the Navy They were followed by his household .

Can anyone explain how they worked out who should follow the coffin

Luckily, that answer to your question is succinctly, clearly and definitively answered on this thread, www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4222417-Princess-Anne-the-only-female-behind-the-hearse

I think that picture is hugely inappropriate

It’s all kind of wrong. Just horrible.

Whatever the circumstances, it is never an easy day when you say goodbye to a husband of that long.

My grandparents had been married 63 years. My grandmother had a heart attack the day before my grandfather passed away with cancer. She was too ill to attend his funeral and my husband's grandmother sat with her in hospital during the service. Grandma died a couple of days later. So I lost both my grandparents 10 days apart.

The funny thing was, the Co-op was doing a buy one funeral get one free prepayment plan years earlier! They were savvy with money, so they sorted out their funerals years before, agreeing to have the same to keep it easy. So it was like a repeat of the same funeral... same hymns, readings, coffin, flowers etc, just a different grandparent. I think grandma died, literally, of a broken heart. She always worried how she would open a jar of jam without grandad.

@toffeebutterpopcorn

I thought the music was lovely.

I agree..amazing and spine tingling