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Prince Philip's funeral: the royal family members confirmed to be attending

Buckingham Palace has announced more funeral arrangements

royal family remembrance service
Ainhoa Barcelona
Content Managing Editor
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Buckingham Palace has announced which members of the royal family will be attending Prince Philip's ceremonial royal funeral this weekend.

The service, which is taking place at 3pm on Saturday 17 April at St George's Chapel in Windsor, will be attended by Her Majesty the Queen as well as her four children: Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

MORE: The royals who will not be attending Prince Philip's funeral

Charles, Anne and Edward's spouses, the Duchess of Cornwall, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence and the Countess of Wessex respectively, will also be in attendance.

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Prince Philip's grandchildren will also attend the funeral and most of them will be joined by their spouses: the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, Zara and Mike Tindall, Peter Phillips, and Prince Philip's youngest grandchildren, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn.

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While Harry flew over to the UK last weekend and has been self-isolating at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor until the funeral, his heavily pregnant wife Meghan Markle has remained at home in California with their one-year-old son Archie as she was advised by doctors not to travel.

MORE: Prince Charles and Camilla visibly moved as they view floral tributes left for Prince Philip

Princess Margaret's daughter Lady Sarah Chatto and her husband Daniel Chatto, as well as Margaret's son the Earl of Snowdon, have also been invited to the funeral, as have the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent and Princess Alexandra. 

Prince Philip's German relatives The Hereditary Prince of Baden, The Landgrave of Hesse, The Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, as well as his lifelong friend and carriage driving companion the Countess Mountbatten of Burma, will also be in attendance.

royal family remembrance service© Photo: Getty Images

The Queen will be joined by members of her royal family 

The funeral has been limited to 30 guests in line with the government's current coronavirus restrictions.

MORE: Princess Beatrice becomes emotional talking about granddad Prince Philip in unearthed video - watch

MORE: Sophie Wessex says Prince Philip's passing was 'peaceful' and 'gentle'

The Countess Mountbatten of Burma, Penelope Knatchbull, who is informally known as Penny, was a dear friend of Prince Philip and also a close companion of the Queen. Penny grew close to the royal family through her relationship with Norton Knatchbull, 3rd Earl of Mountbatten. She was an immediate hit with the royals, but particularly impressed the Queen and Philip when she was first introduced by Norton in 1975.

the queen holding prince philip hand© Photo: Getty Images

The royal couple were married for 73 years

Prince Philip's loyal press secretary and long-standing aide, Brigadier Archie Miller Bakewell, will be part of the funeral procession and will enter the chapel, but will not be seated in the quire with the royal family. He was the Duke's right-hand man for 11 years, taking on the role in 2010.

Similarly, the Queen will be accompanied by a lady-in-waiting and the pair will travel in the same car, although the lady-in-waiting, whose identity will be revealed on the day of the funeral, will remain in the nave and not be seated in the quire.

The monarch will have had the difficult task of deciding who should attend the service, celebrating her husband's life and legacy. It was originally planned long ago for 800 guests but had to take into account the strict limit on numbers during the pandemic.

Members of the public have been asked not to travel to Windsor for the funeral, but instead to join in with the minute-silence from home. BBC One will also broadcast the funeral at 3pm. 

the queen and prince philip with children

The couple's four children will attend the ceremonial royal funeral

In a touching detail and in line with his wishes, Prince Philip's coffin will be driven from the State Entrance of the Castle to the West Steps of the Chapel on a specially modified Land Rover he helped design himself. The coffin, draped in the Duke's personal standard and with flowers, his Naval Cap and sword placed on top, will be carried from the State Entrance to the Land Rover by pallbearers from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards at 2.40pm.

At 2.45pm the Prince of Wales and other members of the family will walk in procession behind the coffin along a route lined with socially distanced servicemen and women from across the Armed Forces. Other representatives from regiments associated with the Duke will "pay compliments" from the Castle's quadrangle as the coffin departs the State Entrance. At the West Steps, a bearer party from the Royal Marines will carry the coffin up to the doors of the Chapel as a Royal Naval pipe band plays, ahead of the minute's silence.

The intimate service, conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the Dean of Windsor David Conner, will follow a military funeral procession. At the end of the ceremony, the Duke's coffin will be interred in the Royal Vault beneath the Chapel.

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