What Time is the Dukes Funeral? Queen Elizabeth II buries her husband Prince Philip at Windsor Castle

The Queen Elizabeth II gives the last goodbye this Saturday to the man with whom she was married for 73 years, her “strength and support”, the prince philip, at a sober military-style funeral with masks and few guests due to the pandemic.

The religious ceremony will begin at 3:00 p.m. (2:00 p.m. GMT) in Saint George, the Gothic chapel of the 15th century located in the almost millennium castillo de Windsor, about 50 km west of London.

Due to the coronavirus, the British were asked not to travel to this small town. Still the terraces of its pubs should be filled with supporters of the crown, covered with British flags, to follow the event on television like millions of others.

At the beginning of the service, the country will observe a minute of silence.

But first, the four children and several of the grandchildren of the royal couple – including princes William and Harry – will walk behind the coffin in a short funeral procession through the castle gardens.

It will be the 36-year-old Harry’s first public appearance with royalty since he and his wife Meghan, who did not travel to the UK because she was pregnant, abandoned their royal duties and moved to California.

The prince will not walk with his brother Guillermo, 38 years old and second in the order of succession to the throne, with whom relations are tense, but his cousin Peter Phillips will be among them.

It may be “an eccentricity in planning or a deliberate attempt to keep them separate,” The Times wrote on Friday.

Without pomp and with a mask

The prince consort passed away on April 9, two months before his 100th birthday.

She had been a constant presence alongside Queen Elizabeth II since she was crowned at just 25 years old in 1952, when Britain was rebuilding after World War II and her world empire was beginning to crumble.

His death left a “huge void” in the life of the sovereign, said Andrés, the couple’s third son.

The restrictions imposed by the coronavirus forced a hasty modification of “Operation Forth Bridge”, a long-drawn-out funeral plan.

The funerals of British royalty are usually of great scope, perfected over years and attended by monarchs and leaders from around the world.

The last one, in 2002 due to the death of the queen mother, cost more than 5.4 million pounds (6.2 million dollars or 5.2 million euros) and brought together more than a million people in front of the abbey Wesminster in London.

But Felipe’s burial, limited by the pandemic to 30 intimate guests with masks and safety distances, will respect the simplicity and marked military style desired by the duke, who was a Navy officer.

A photograph taken by Britain’s Sophie, Countess of Wessex, and published by Buckingham Palace on April 16, 2021, shows Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, atop the Coyles of Muick, near by Ballater.

The coffin will be received by military cornets and representatives of the three armies for a short procession.

The coffin will be carried in a military green Land Rover designed following the instructions provided by Felipe himself.

The queen, alone

The queen, who turns 95 on April 21, will arrive aboard an official Bentley with a lady in waiting.

But she will sit alone to say her last goodbye to whom she called “her strength and her support,” the man she married while still a princess in 1947 and whose death leaves her alone in the twilight of her reign.

Numerous royal experts assure that it was the Duke of Edinburgh who managed with an iron hand a family marked by crises, helping the queen to weather the scandals.

All eyes will be on Harry and Guillermo, looking for some sign of reconciliation between the grief over the loss of their grandfather.

He was a “man of service, honor and a great sense of humor,” Harry said of him after arriving from Los Angeles for the funeral.

“I will miss my grandfather, but I know he would have wanted us to continue with our work,” Guillermo said this week.

Despite the marked military style of the ceremony, the men of the royal family will not wear uniforms.

According to the press, the Queen’s personal decision will avoid highlighting the loss of honorary military titles by Harry, despite having served twice in Afghanistan, after his resounding departure from the monarchy.

Following the funeral, presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the Anglicans, the Duke will be buried in private in the royal vault of St George’s Chapel.