Prince Philip's funeral to feature a custom Land Rover and a tiny guest list, Buckingham Palace says - ABC News

Prince Philip's final journey will take place in a custom Land Rover he helped design, and feature just 30 mourners because of COVID restrictions.

Details of Saturday's funeral, released by Buckingham Palace, show the Windsor Castle service will be the smallest royal send-off in modern times.

And all but one of the mourners will be members of the royal family. 

Who will attend Prince Philip's funeral? 

Numbers will be severely limited. Only 30 people will be allowed inside the castle's St George's Chapel for the funeral service, and all will be members of the royal family — except for the duke's private secretary, Archie Miller-Bakewell.

Prince Philip's children, Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, will all be in attendance.

Millions lined the streets of London when Princess Diana died in 1997.(

Reuters: Desmond Boylan

)

The duke's grandson, Prince Harry, will also attend, but his pregnant wife Meghan will remain at the couple's home in the United States on medical advice.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson isn't going.

By way of comparison, more than 2,000 mourners attended the Queen Mother's funeral at Westminster Abbey in 2002, while tens of thousands more lined the streets outside.

For Princess Diana's funeral in 1997, it was reported more than 1 million people lined the streets to see the cortege accompanying her body, along with the thousands of mourners who attended the service.

Custom 4WD to replace hearse

Prince Philip helped to design the Land Rover that will take his body on its final journey.(

Reuters: Peter Summers

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Since his death, Prince Philip's body has been at Windsor Castle, and details released by Buckingham Palace confirm he will remain lying in rest there, at the castle's private chapel, until his funeral.

The service, which will be broadcast live, is due to begin at 3:00pm on Saturday, or midnight AEST.

When the time comes, Prince Philip's coffin will be placed in a custom-built Land Rover, which the duke himself helped design, for transport to the chapel.

British-made Land Rovers have long been a favourite vehicle of the Queen and Prince Philip, and Land Rover holds a royal warrant as a supplier to the royal family.

The duke was driving a Land Rover when he was involved in a crash that injured two women in 2019.

Once the duke's body is loaded into the custom-built 4WD, the vehicle will make its way from the castle's quadrangle to St George's Chapel.

The duke's death triggered a mourning period for the royal family.(

Reuters: Hannah McKay

)

Read more about Prince Philip's life:

His body will rest alongside former kings

Members of the royal family and Prince Philip's household will follow the Land Rover on foot for the eight-minute journey, before the final 30 mourners enter St George's Chapel for a service conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Dean of Windsor.

The chapel is where Prince Harry and Meghan married in 2018.

Prince Harry and Meghan wed in St George's Chapel three years ago.(

AP: Owen Humphreys

)

The palace has confirmed that following the service, the late Duke of Edinburgh will be interred in the chapel's royal burial vault, and not at Frogmore Gardens, as was previously expected.

The chapel is the final resting place of 10 British monarchs, including the Queen's father George VI and her grandfather George V.

The funeral will mark the end of an eight-day period of national mourning in the UK.

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2021-04-11 18:35:59Z
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