Over the weekend, the Royal Family laid the late-Prince Philip to rest during a funeral at St. George’s chapel at Windsor. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, just 30 members were permitted to attend with the Queen forced to be seated alone at the front of the church. It was a heartbreaking scene to witness – the Queen saying farewell to her husband of 73 years in a lonely corner of the chapel. It didn’t prevent her paying one last gesture to the Duke of Edinburgh.
Atop Prince Philip’s coffin, a hand-written letter from the Queen was placed alongside a stunning wreath of flowers. Entertainment Tonight reports the couple famously wrote love letters to one another during their marriage. This was her final.
A note from the queen was placed on Prince Philip's coffin: On top of Prince Philip's coffin was a letter and a wreath from his wife, Queen Elizabeth. The couple famously wrote love letters back and forth to each other over the course of their .. https://t.co/0mqPikKUUH
— Jeffrey Levin (@jilevin) April 17, 2021
A famous letter from the Queen to author Betty Shew in 1947, ahead of the royal wedding between Elizabeth and Philip, was auctioned off in 2016. Within it, the then 21-year-old affectionately detailed meeting Philip for the first time and his love for cars. It was the first letter of seven decades.
“Philip enjoys driving and does it fast!” Elizabeth wrote. “He has his own tiny M.G. which he is very proud of—he has taken me about in it, once up to London, which was great fun, only it was like sitting on the road, and the wheels are almost as high as one’s head. On that one and only occasion we were chased by a photographer which was disappointing.”
Prince Philip passed away “gently” on April 9 at Windsor Castle. Prince Harry flew from Los Angeles to London for the funeral but sat apart from his brother, Prince William due to tensions within the family. Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, was unable to attend after being advised against flying while seven months pregnant.
She reportedly commissioned a custom wreath (perhaps the one seen with Queen Elizabeth’s letter), to be laid at the funeral.
