Farewell to Prince Philip: his funeral service in photos

Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, has been laid to rest in Windsor Castle after a sober yet personal and moving ceremony on Saturday April 17. He had passed away on April 9 at the age of 99 - leaving behind his wife, Queen Elizabeth of 94, his four children, eight grandchildren, and ten greatgrandchildren.

The Duke of Edinburgh had planned his own funeral ceremony into detail for many years. After the outbreak of COVID-19, his plans had to be adjusted, making the procession and service smaller than initially intended but still with his own, personal touch.

It was a bright and sunny Saturday afternoon in Windsor as military units, staff, and attendants prepared for the burial ceremony of Prince Philip.

An impressive number of different military units were present, "several hundred" according to the BBC, honouring the late Prince and his extensive military service. The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, in this image, was joined by members of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Highlanders, Royal Air Force, and 4th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland who would line the route of the funeral procession.

The public was advised not to come to the castle, as there would be no opportunity to catch a glimpse of the Prince's casket or show their support to his family. Yet, some gathered to view the preparations of the ceremony from the outside of the terrain.

Others, in cities like London, remembered the Duke of Edinburgh as they passed depictions of the royal couple - like this one at Piccadilly Circus - in honour of the late prince.

Having largely come out of a lockdown on the previous Monday, the public in Windsor shared some of the momentous event while taking into account the COVID-19 regulations of wearing masks and maintaining as much social distance as possible.

Windsor Castle was shut off to assure a relatively private ceremony.

While limiting its originally planned scale, the ceremony had its military participants, such as the Foot Guards Band marching ahead of the funeral ceremony and the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery making a Gun Salute during the procession. The bands of the Grenadier Guards and Rifles Regiment, members of the Household Cavalry and a Royal Navy 'piping party' provided music for the ceremony, while Royal Marines and "other regiments and corps associated with the duke" (according to the BBC) carried his coffin.

A special presence was the driving carriage of the late Duke of Edinburgh with two of his favourite ponies: Balmoral Nevis and Notlaw Storm. He had insisted that self-designed carriage be part of his procession.

The Prince loved carriage driving and practiced this sport until a very high age. On this photo, he was 94 years old.

On the right seat of the carriage, his hat, gloves, scarf, and whip reminded the mourners of the rides he used to make with his carriage and ponies. As the carriage waited for the procession to pass it by, attentive viewers were wondering what the plastic container with the red lid was for. As the BBC explained: "That is the Duke's sugar lump pot, out of which he would treat the ponies after every ride."

At 2:40 pm, the casket of Prince Philip was set upon the Land Rover Defender that he had designed especially for this occasion.

The Prince had always had a love for the English car brand. He had once said jokingly to Queen Elizabeth: "Just stick me in the back of a Land Rover and drive me to Windsor," regarding his funeral. And so it happened - after a series of adaptations to the vehicle which the Prince had supervised personally.

The ceremony was far from what the Prince and his staff and relatives had thought of for years. The event, that was to host 800 mourners, was scaled down because of the coronavirus pandemic. Only 30 family members attended the service in St. George's Chapel.

A small group of relatives walked behind the car at a funeral procession that had no other spectators than the solemnly present military.

In the procession were the Prince's four children: Anne and Charles at the front, then Andrew and Edward, and behind them three grandchildren - William, Peter Phillips, and Harry. Lastly, the two mourners at the end of the procession were Vice Admiral Tim Lawrence, Princess Anne's husband, and the Earl of Snowdon, who is a nephew of the Queen.

The other family members attending Prince Philip's funeral - including Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, in this image - had gone separately to St. George's Chapel and awaited the procession there.

Queen Elizabeth drove with a Lady-in-Waiting to the Chapel. COVID-19 restrictions made it impossible for her to be close to the other family members. Royalty expert Katie Nicholl said on BBC: "There's no humanity in Covid. Many families will recognize what the queen went through, as there were many funerals like that in the past year."

Both Katie Nicholl and Robert Hardman, another commentator for BBC, emphasized how alone the Queen must have been during the entire ceremony. "The entire public must have felt for the Queen," Hardman said after the funeral.

Prince Charles, the heir to the throne and ahead in the procession, was visibly moved as he followed his father's coffin. The casket was draped in Prince Philip's flag and held his Navy cap and sword.

Read about the delicate relationship of Prince Charles and his father

Many viewers and commentators were attentive to the body language of Charles's sons, William and Harry. They walked two rows behind the Prince of Wales and had Peter Phillips in between them for the 20-minute procession.

After the notorious Oprah Winfrey interview, in which Harry and Meghan had made some striking accusations against the royal family, people wondered if the brothers would be on speaking terms. As would appear after the service, they are. William, Harry, and Kate Middleton were seen chatting as they walked out of the Chapel together.

Preceding the service, the funeral procession arrived at St. George's Chapel a few minutes before 3 pm. There, another touching element of the ceremony took place.

The coffin of Prince Philip was carried up the stairs of the Chapel where he would be laid to rest. It held still halfway there at 3 pm.

At that moment, a minute of silence began across the nation.

Once inside the Chapel, the 50-minute service for the late Duke of Edinburgh was an intimate affair, though it was felt by everyone watching it across the nation.

The Queen sat alone in the front (in the left bottom corner of the picture). Next to her was Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, by himself, and to his left there were Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. After 73 years of marriage, Queen Elizabeth would say goodbye to her husband one last time in this ceremony.

She would not be entirely alone, though, as the entire country was attentive to the event on that sunny Saturday. Piccadilly Circus showed an image of the procession, and on many TV screens the images were closely followed by a committed public.

"In the most solemn moment of a solemn day," the BBC reported, "the duke's coffin was lowered into the Royal Vault while military bands played, ending on Action Stations, the naval signal that all hands should be ready for battle." It was exactly how the Prince would have wanted it: a ceremony with little fuss, and then continue with business as usual.

Prince Philip: a life in pictures