HRH Prince Philip funeral
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- Service ends, royals leave the Chapel
- His “unwavering loyalty” to the Queen, service to the nation and “courage”, is being celebrated at his funeral
- Royals sat with their own households in line with Covid rules – Queen and Harry both sat alone.
- Dean – ‘His long life has been a blessing’
- Nation observes minutes silence
- Coffin arrives at St George’s Chapel
- Queen joins procession
- Coffin emerges
- Prince William and Kate arrive at Windsor Castle.
- Prince Charles arrives at Windsor Castle.
- Welcome to our live coverage of Prince Philip’s funeral.
HRH PRINCE PHILIP, DUKE OF EDINBURGH FUNERAL
15:50 – Service ends, Royals exit church
The Duke’s funeral has ended, the royals will return to the state apartments of Windsor Castle.
Duke’s coffin lowered into Royal Vault
Prince Philip has been interred in the Royal Vault of St George’s Chapel.
Before it was lowered into the vault, the dean said: “Go forth upon thy journey from this world, O Christian soul.”
15:42 – titles readout
The Garter Principal King of Arms reads out the Duke of Edinburgh’s titles in full.
“Thus it hath pleased Almighty God to take out of this transitory life unto his divine mercy the late most Illustrious and most Exalted Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,” he begins.
The duke’s most famous role, husband to the Queen, “whom may God preserve and bless with long life, health and honour and all worldly happiness”.
15:33 – Prayers – ‘God save our gracious sovereign’
“God save our gracious Sovereign and all the Companions, living and departed, of the Most Honourable and Noble Order of The Garter,” says the Dean of Windsor
He offers praise to God for the life of Prince Philip, who he says left us “a fair pattern of valiant and true knighthood”.
“Grant unto him the assurance of thine ancient promise that thou wilt ever be with those who go down to the sea in ships and occupy their business in great waters,” the dean prays.
15:30 – Prayers
After prayers – including the Lord’s Prayer – are sung, the Dean of Windsor says the traditional collect from the Burial of the Dead service in the Book of Common Prayer, which has been used by the Church of England for hundreds of years.
Queen sits alone
William and Harry sat opposite each other
A psalm sung
Psalm 104 is set to music by William Lovelady, a contemporary composer and classical guitarist, who wrote the setting at the request of the duke.
15:20 – ‘Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die’
Now the Archibishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, reads the second lesson from the Gospel of John, chapter 11, verses 21 to 27.
15:16 -Dean reads Ecclesiasticus
The first lesson, verses in praise of nature and God’s creation, read by the Dean of Windsor, is from the Book of Ecclesiasticus, chapter 43, verses 11 to 26.
15:12 – The choir honour duke
The best-known hymn associated with seafaring, “Eternal Father, strong to save”.
“O hear us when we cry to thee / For those in peril on the sea,” is the famous refrain of each verse.
And it ends with the exhortation: “ever let there rise to thee / Glad hymns of praise from land and sea”.
15:09 – Dean speaks
Now we hear the bidding, an invitation to prayer, said by the Right Reverend David Conner, Dean of Windsor.
“We are here today in St George’s Chapel to commit into the hands of God the soul of his servant Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,” he says.
The dean says that “with grateful hearts” we remember the ways in which “his long life has been a blessing to us”.
“We have been inspired by his unwavering loyalty to our Queen, by his service to the nation and the Commonwealth, by his courage, fortitude and faith,” he says.
He tells the congregation that “our lives have been enriched” by the challenges he set, the encouragement he gave, “his kindness, humour and humanity”.
The dean concludes the bidding with the words: “We therefore pray that God will give us grace to follow his example, and that, with our brother Philip, at the last, we shall know the joys of life eternal.”
15:07 – service begins
Royals led to their seats, the Queen’s head remains bowed.
15:00 – National minute silence
The nation observes a minute’s silence.
14:57 – Coffin arrives
The Queen has taken her seat inside the Chapel – the Duke’s coffin has arrived at the steps of St George’s Chapel
14:47 – Procession begins
The Queen joins the procession, driven behind the walking party.
Royals bow as coffin passes
14:41 – Coffin emerges
The coffin has emerged from the West Gate and is being put onto the hearse.
14:33 – Meghan watching from home
The Duchess of Sussex will be watching from home in California, her press secretary says.
She was hoping to be able to attend, but was not cleared for travel by her physician at this stage of her pregnancy, a statement says.
Meghan has handwritten a card to accompany a wreath she and Prince Harry chose for the Duke of Edinburgh.
The wreath was designed and handmade by Willow Crossley who was also chosen by the couple for the flower arrangements for the evening portion of their wedding in Frogmore Gardens at Windsor Home Park, Archie’s Christening at the private chapel in Windsor Castle, and the launch event for the Hubb Community cookbook at Kensington Palace.
14:26 – Hearse arrives at Windsor Castle
A specially-modified Land Rover hearse, which Prince Philip helped to design over 16 years, has arrived at Windsor Castle.
14:21 – The military in place
It’s almost time for the procession to start –
The route from the state entrance of Windsor Castle to St George’s Chapel is being lined with personnel from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, The Highlanders, 4th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland and the Royal Air Force.
14:14 – The order of service
Buckingham Palace has released the order of service for Prince Philip’s funeral so people can follow it at home.
The service at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle will be conducted by the Dean of Windsor, with the Archbishop of Canterbury pronouncing the blessing.
It will start after a national minute’s silence at 15:00 BST and is expected to last about 50 minutes.
13:57 – William and Kate arrive at Windsor Castle
13:25: Prince Charles arrives
13:00 – Welcome
Welcome to our live coverage of Prince Philip’s funeral, as the nation joins HM the Queen in a final farewell to the duke.
NO famous people. We’re not all ‘in it together’
2020 and beyond exposed the toxicity of celebrity culture as stars continue to flout rules for luxury holidays and continue to get away with it.
If there’s ever a perfect time to be a celebrity, it’s during a global health crisis with forced lockdowns, mass unemployment and misery.
Whilst most of us can not even comprehend when we’ll be on holiday next if you’re famous all you need to do is hop on a private jet.
So did 2020 expose the hypocrisy of Celebrity? Are we still obsessed with the famous?
Is the age of the celebrity over?
The BBC asks is the age of celebrity over?
Just as the history books will consider the time before and after Covid-19, scholars of pop culture will likely divide their studies into pre – and post – Gal Gadot’s ill-fated Imagine video.
Whatever her intentions, Wonder Woman left most people wondering why any of us would want to watch a baffling line-up of celebrities, very few of whom were musicians, warbling along to a 50-year-old song, with seemingly no inkling that lyrics calling for unity might ring a little empty when crooned from enormous mansions. It was tone-deaf in more ways than one.
Ten days later, the New York Times ran an article titled Celebrity Culture is Burning in which the writer explored the idea that one consequence of the global pandemic might be the “swift dismantling of the cult of celebrity”.
These celebrities are all clearly in compound-style houses. So for them to reach out and say ‘I understand your pain’ is a bit fanciful – Chris Rojek
When celebrities stay at home, the gossip-mill begins to stutter. Without the usual showbiz schedule, paparazzi pin their hopes on seeing famous people popping to the supermarket to buy loo roll and pasta, invariably with their face mostly obscured by a mask.
Where ordinary people have sought connection, celebrities have sought attention, in the form of self-created content. Like the rest of us, they were stuck at home with nothing to do. It’s just that their homes are much bigger than ours and not working for a few months doesn’t generally result in missed mortgage payments. With considerably less to worry about, they might have been even more bored than the majority.
Professor Rojek explains: “There are many celebrities who have no skills, no talent and are actually value-less in terms of giving the public anything other than sensation. These kinds of celebrities are called ‘celetoids’ – from celebrity and tabloid.” And the pandemic has certainly called into question how much time we have for this particular nook of fame.
The pandemic appears to have shifted who we deem worthy of recognition back towards people with something real to offer, but perhaps that is only a virtuous blip – Professor Rojek