James Viscount Severn

[RoachTheHorse]

He looks so so young standing vigil. That must be hard.

You of course are utterly gorgeous 😆

I thought it was so truly special and moving. A real testament of how brave they are. I've always respected the Royal Family but this has moved it another level.

Such a shame Peter Phillips doesn't have a uniform !

I’ve just watched a clip and sobbed, I honestly don’t know how they stood there.
When my gran died I was an absolute mess, being the oldest of 9 grandchildren it fell on me to arrange everything and watching my brother and cousins carry her coffin in, I nearly collapsed well done to the young James.

I agree he’s very good looking , not withe the rest of the statement. Lady Louise is very pretty too.
They all look so sad , bless them 🙁

my daughter (at 14) did one of the readings at my grandmother's funeral. I think it's perfectly appropriate for children to be involved as far as they chose to.

I think if it was his choice. that's fine. Totally different context but many cultures don't shield young ones from the death rituals as much as the UK does and kids are. I worse for it. So hopefully he will be fine. The difference with Harry's situation is that this is not Severn's mum who has died.

It has been reported that James not only wanted to do it, but was adament that he would. Imagine being the only grandchild who hadn't. That might well have been harder. I think the fact that they all were there for each other would have helped too. I find the whole thing weird, but if its something they feel they should do, let them crack on with it.

Yes he really does. There was also one of Charles visiting the queue and he looked just like Philip. It's funny how family resemblances come through on certain angles.

I think a big difference from William and Harry is that James has lost his 96yo granny who died peacefully at home, whereas Diana was the boys’ mother, she was young and her death was violent and unexpected yes, it's very different.

Respect to him for doing it. His parents wouldn’t have let him (presumably based on how they have not had him in “limelight”) had he not wanted to! It’s a way to mark how much he loved his granny!

They all wanted to do it, they were all together and it's 15 minutes. No where near on the same scale as Diana's funeral for W&H. He may have regretted it more if he didn't do it. I think the medals are those that were given to all the RF for the Plat Jubilee.

Everyone blames Tony Blair for everything. There is no way he had the power to insist what the RF did.

Wearing medals is not mental, what a stupid comment, he's wearing his Diamond and Platinum Jubilee medals designed for the Queen's Jubilee! she gave them to members of the family. He's 14 not 4, he would have had the many members of his family explain how it would be and it's not for long, if he didn't want to do it I'm sure he wouldn't. Harry was alot longer walking behind Diana's with the crowds, it's not about what others want its what they want leave him be 😳

I imagine he was given the choice, especially given his age. He did very well. Broke my heart watching him. I'm fond of the Wessex children.

I was also thinking how well he did considering he hasn’t been in the public eye so far.

As others have said, it was most likely his choice and they will have all had lots of preparation and help with how to deal with it.

I think that’s why the grandchildren were in succession order rather than the order of their parents, or in age order.

It kept Louise and James nicely in the middle and had the four eldest grandchildren front and rear.

Tony Blair did not "insist they were paraded in front of an hysterical public"! What nonsense. He negotiated the aftermath with the royal family because it was a unique situation. Blair had no control over private family decisions.
It was Prince Philip who encouraged the boys to walk behind the coffin, as he had walked behind his favourite sister's as a teenager.

He did so well. They all did. Sophie did look incredibly worried the whole time.

I doubt he was forced to do it, he wanted to honour his grandmother, it wasn't the same as 25 years ago, walking through the streets.

I wondered that-
Is a child allowed to wear the Medals if a parent who was awarded them?
I think on Remembrance Sunday relatives of Servicemen and Women can wear medals , not entirely sure, though.
A Military Person is bound to know the protocol.

14 is old enough to decide for himself. I remember my cousin choosing to come to our grandfathers funeral at that age, we were surprised but it was his choice. He needed to be there, he was very upset but it was a part of the grieving process he was as entitled to as the rest of us.

Only on MN where a 14 year old in the 21st century it expected to be comparable with a 6 year old of the 20th century!

Re Medals- They are Jubilee Medals gifted by The Queen to him.

I watched the video on YouTube, maybe they cut it down, but the whole video was less than 30 minutes. How long did they have to stand there? I'm old and fat and I can stand for 30 minutes...

I read an awful report that one of the reasons was that Blair and others (Alastair Campbell springs to mind) thought there might be vocal dissent expressed by the crowds towards Charles at Dianas funeral, so the two boys were acting almost as human shields because it was assumed that no one would be so crass as to shout out towards two bereaved children. I hope this was just some journalists fantasy and not a true account of the cynicism of government.