Beautiful memorial service for Prince Philip

Yes it all went off wonderfully as expected but I was disappointed by the BBC commentary, I am sure Mr Dimbleby would have know who was who and could have saved us guessing. Amazed to see so many foreign royalty in the paper this morning, I don't think they were mentioned, unless it was when I popped out the room.

Dickens you are right.
The Queen has a quiet dignity and has always had an unwavering sense of duty and loyalty, both to her family and the public.
That's why she's so admired.

Harry chose not to attend because he believed he was not accorded police protection commensurate with his rank, which again he chose to relinquish.

The Queen probably wished he was there, but as far as I could see (I only saw snippets of it and will watch later) it all went off very nicely regardless.

I didn't watch th eservice but have seen numerous newspaper reports and pictures. Such a shame that so many of them put Andrew front and centre. Yes, he should have been there, no, he should not have held such a prominent position. Also thought it quite intrusive to show coverage of the Queen with eyes closed in prayer.

snowberryZ

Just that really.
I thought the Queen looked amazing, considering the time she's had. She looked so dignified as well.
I sort of agree with PA helping her in. After all, he is her son and it's a memorial service for his father.
Also it's a way of showing certain absent members that 'this is what loyalty' in a family looks like.

The children were beautifully behaved and doesn't Princess Charlotte have a look of the Queen about her?

It does seem a bit sad that Harry wasnt there.
If this was any ordinary family I suppose we would be saying he has gone No Contact with Prince Charles and that he and the Queen are estrangedparents/grandparents!
Seems a bit cruel to do that to an old lady, in what could be one of her last public engagements.
But that is my opinion.
I'm sure the PH fanclub will be along in a minute to disagree.

Other than that, it was a lovely service.

Do you not think that PH would have discussed his reasons with The Queen.

They left the firm/the job. They did not leave the family.

They both said they talk with the Queen regularly last year on Oprah by video link as they do other family.

Eugine and her husband were out staying with H & M a couple of months ago so they are hardly none contact

Was a lovely service and one I think Prince Philip would have enjoyed!
The inclusion of members of his family from young to old was as it should be, including Prince Andrew - who can actually say that he has no right to be at a memorial service for his own father, whatever he has or has not done in the past?
It was a shame that Harry at least wasn't there - but considering the travel involved, I can understand why. It will possibly reverberate on him in future years that he wasn't there, but it isn't up to any of us to say what is right or wrong?
When all is said and done, they are a family like all of us. Hands up any one that can honestly say they haven't had a fall out between members at some point!

Yes, it was a lovely service

Thought the Queen was amazing! At her age to go through that experience sitting alone was very brave of her & being escorted by Prince Andrew said a lot about family! No matter what our children do we still care for them for the things we see in them that outsiders do not! It was a service for his father also so respect there! I felt like climbing through the tv to get to her & give her a big hug, lovely fantastic lady!

Afraid I would have much preferred to see Prince Charles escorting his mother.

She must have wanted Prince Andrew. Good for her!

I thought P A and Sarah Ferguson were more or less back together as a family. But as a son of the great Prince Phillip, he should be there, anyway. Matter of respect.

volver

Another Republican view...

In some people's opinions, the Queen still loves her second son, who may be a sexual predator (allegedly), but she doesn't have any time for her grandson who is a former army officer who started the Invictus Games and clearly puts his wife and children first.

Funny old world.

We don’t know that the Queen has no time for Harry. It’s been reported that they often speak on the phone or FaceTime. However if in fact she isn’t pleased with him perhaps it’s because he trashed the whole family on the Oprah Winfrey interview,
I’m going to go against the general feeling here regarding Prince Andrew. He should certainly have been present at his fathers memorial but I really don’t think he should have accompanied the Queen to her seat. Yes at a private family occasion but no on such a public state occasion, attended by foreign heads of state. It looked like he was trying to worm his way back into a public position, especially as he’d insisted they travel together in the royal car. I thought the Queen’s sense of propriety and protocol would have ruled it out.

Can I just be clear, HannahLoisLuke, that I was quoting someone else regarding what the Queen thinks. None of us have any idea what the Queen thinks.

So I won't be jumping to conclusions about what the Queen thinks about Harry's behaviour. And what's more, I have seen no indication that Andrew insisted they travel together in the royal car. Or that the Queen’s sense of propriety and protocol would have ruled it out.

We all have an image of who we think the Queen is, how she thinks, how her family behave, who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. And it's all conjecture, it's all speculation.

Mallin

Afraid I would have much preferred to see Prince Charles escorting his mother.

But then Camilla would have had to walk in on her own.
To me, apart from the Queen (we assume) sending out her own message about Andrew, he was the obvious choice as he doesn’t have a partner, well, not one he could bring with him.

Surely we all know the bachelor son who accompanies his mother, takes her shopping etc.

Not that I am suggesting the Queen and Andrew go shopping together….

We do do these things WELL! All others look tacky beside us!!

Oh no, I can't let that stand...

Tacky? You mean like the trumpeters dressed up like Tudors who play a fanfare before an old lady walks in? You mean like a group of priests/ministers dressed up in their medieval finery? Like the adulation for a family that for some people can do no wrong? Like all the curtseying?

No no. We're the tacky ones.

Quite apart from any "message" the Queen may have been intending to send about Andrew, the sheer practicality would have won out for me. He was already with her and was going back with her too. He sees her nearly every day, and probably knows exactly how fast she is comfortable walking, how high or sticking out she likes his elbow to hold, which bits of the walk she might need extra watching for, and when it's safe to let her go the rest of the way on her own. Imagine if he'd handed her off to the Dean or someone else mid-journey - she might have stumbled or tottered during the changeover, the new person might have walked with a different stride or held their arm too high or got in the way of her stick as she adjusted her grip. And not least about drawing extra attention to Andrew's legal problems if we'd seen him in the car with her and suddenly he was whisked off to another part of the church as if he'd not been with her at all.

Also I agree with the people who said it really didn't need bringing up DURING the commentary of the service :rolleyes:

It really is a parallel universe, really it is.

There's an excuse for everything.

With regard to Harry's security problem, he could have got off the plane, been met by Charles or William or even Kate who would automatically have had police protection with them, he could have got into their nice secure car with them, then gone straight to nice secure Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace or even Clarence House which all have security around them. He then just needed to stay put, protected, till the service, and gone to the service with another royal in another secure car, then reversed his journey home again. There was no reason to have his own security team - unless he had thought to go clubbing or to Burger King while he was over here... Basically he didn't want to come to some boring family do.

You need to email them about that. I'm sure they hadn't thought of it.

Harry didn't need an excuse not to come, he probably didn't want to.

If Harry had attended the press would have made it all about him and taken attention away from the real reason for the service. Just remember the headlines at the funeral. Would he talk to William or his dad, would he look at them etc etc. Much nicer for his grandmother and the rest of the family if he stayed away.

It was a lovely service and nice to see the family together after a long time. Of course Prince Andrew had to be there for his father. I felt it was quite discreet as the attention was on the Queen rather than him. It was better than having him parade down the aisle with the others or having to sneak in a side door by himself. I was glad that Harry and Meghan didn't attend as they would have made it into the Harry and Meghan show.

Harry has made a choice as the younger son of an heir to the throne. He knows that the RF have limited time in its present format. He did not want to become like his Uncle Ed, who turns out, every so often, to open stuff & shake hands. Ed is possibly a decent chap.. who knows?
Charles had spoken of slimming down the RF to fewer 'active' people.. so maybe H could see a limited life. Also really think that some RF (& their fans) found his choice of partner , not being a compliant English Rose or tally ho Horse & Hound type, a little hard to accept.
No idea what H does over in Santa Monica but it is a lovely place and I'd prefer to live there than be an aristo in the home counties.
In an ideal world he might have taken on the CEO of a go-ahead charitable organisation and gone to work every day like a real person and made a real difference to people's lives but hey ho....