London: The Queen has described the final moments of her 73-year marriage to Prince Philip as “a miracle” and told family his death leaves a “huge void” in her life.
The details of the Duke of Edinburgh’s last hours emerged following a small church service for key members of the royal family on Sunday.
Sophie, Countess of Wessex talks to household staff and mourners at a small church service at Windsor.Credit:Getty Images
Sophie, the Countess of Wessex – who is married to the Queen and Philip’s youngest son Prince Edward – was recorded telling a fellow mourner that the 99-year-old duke’s death was “right for him”.
“It was so gentle,” she said. “It was just like somebody took him by the hand and off he went. Very, very peaceful. And that’s all you want for somebody, isn’t it?”
The Queen was by Philip’s bedside when he died at Windsor Castle on Friday morning.
Asked how the 94-year-old monarch was coping, Sophie told reporters on Sunday: “Thinking of others before herself.”
Outside the church, Prince Andrew also paid tribute to his mother: “The Queen as you would expect is an incredibly stoic person. She described his passing as a miracle and she’s contemplating, I think is the way that I would put it.
Prince Andrew emerges from the Royal Chapel of All Saints.Credit:Getty Images
“She described it as having left a huge void in her life but we, the family, the ones that are close, are rallying around to make sure that we’re there to support her.”
Andrew has been rarely seen in public since he was forced to stand down from public life in 2019 because of his friendship with notorious billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The controversial royal said Philip was a remarkable, calm man who “would always listen”.
“So it’s a great loss,” he said.
“I think another way I would put it is that we’ve lost almost the grandfather of the nation. And I feel very sorry and supportive of my mother, who was feeling it, probably more than everybody else.”
Andrew also talked about a recent phone call with his father in which the duke said death placed everyone “in the same boat” – a reference to the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed nearly 130,000 lives in the United Kingdom.
“Unfortunately, with my father’s death, it has brought it home to me not just our loss, but actually the loss that everybody else has felt for so many people who’ve died, and lost loved ones, during the pandemic,” Andrew said.
“So, we are all in the same boat; slightly different circumstances because he didn’t die from COVID-19 [but] we’re all feeling a great sense of loss.”
Philip’s funeral will be held at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on Saturday afternoon. It will be attended by just 30 family members to adhere to England’s coronavirus restrictions.
Sunday’s church service was at the Royal Chapel of All Saints, a small church at the southern end of the castle’s famed Long Walk.
The Queen did not attend.
The monarch and Philip knew each other almost their entire lives: they first met as children at a wedding in 1934; he was 13 and she just eight. They would meet again at the Royal Naval College in Devon in 1939 and write to each other regularly afterwards.
They announced their engagement in July 1947 and married at Westminster Abbey that same year.
Princess Anne, who shared the closest bond with Philip of his four children, was not at Sunday’s service but did release a new statement describing her father as “my teacher, my supporter and my critic”.
“You know it’s going to happen but you are never really ready,” she said.
“His ability to treat every person as an individual in their own right with their own skills comes through all the organisations with which he was involved.
Princess Anne and Prince Philip shared a close bond. Credit:Getty Images
“I regard it as an honour and a privilege to have been asked to follow in his footsteps and it has been a pleasure to have kept him in touch with their activities. I know how much he meant to them, in the UK, across the Commonwealth and in the wider world.
“I would like to emphasise how much the family appreciate the messages and memories of so many people whose lives he also touched. We will miss him but he leaves a legacy which can inspire us all.”
Hundreds more people arrived at Windsor Castle and at London’s Buckingham Palace to lay flowers on Sunday despite being urged to stay away to avoid the risk of spreading COVID-19.
People on the Long Walk at Windsor Castle on Sunday. Some were there to lay flowers.Credit:AP
Prince Charles paid tribute to his “dear papa” on Saturday and said Philip would be astonished by the reaction to his death.
What in the World
Bevan Shields is the Europe correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
Most Viewed in World
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMifmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnNtaC5jb20uYXUvd29ybGQvZXVyb3BlL3RoZS1xdWVlbi1zYXlzLXByaW5jZS1waGlsaXAtcy1kZWF0aC1oYXMtbGVmdC1hLWh1Z2Utdm9pZC1pbi1oZXItbGlmZS0yMDIxMDQxMi1wNTdpYnYuaHRtbNIBfmh0dHBzOi8vYW1wLnNtaC5jb20uYXUvd29ybGQvZXVyb3BlL3RoZS1xdWVlbi1zYXlzLXByaW5jZS1waGlsaXAtcy1kZWF0aC1oYXMtbGVmdC1hLWh1Z2Utdm9pZC1pbi1oZXItbGlmZS0yMDIxMDQxMi1wNTdpYnYuaHRtbA?oc=5
2021-04-11 18:05:28Z
52781499953537
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar