Queen Elizabeth II was one of the most photographed human beings on the planet. Across her 70-year reign, thousands and thousands of footage of the late monarch had been circulated, however absolutely none had been as heartbreaking as the image of her sitting alone at the funeral of her beloved husband, Prince Philip.
On 17 April 2021, the world was still in the grips of the pandemic. Covid restrictions meant that public distancing was mandated, so Queen Elizabeth, then 94, was compelled to mourn the dying of her accomplice of 73 years by herself on a pew in St George’s Chapel, Windsor.
Clad in mourning black, the decrease half of her face lined by a masks, Her Majesty arrived at the service in a black Bentley, accompanied by one of her ladies-in-waiting, Lady Susan Hussey. The automobile stopped by the facet of Prince Philip’s hearse – a customised Land Rover – permitting the Queen a probability to look at her husband’s coffin. While the late Prince had orchestrated a lot of the service (he requested that there be no sermon and no eulogy), the Queen had personally chosen the flowers laid atop his coffin: lilies, roses, jasmine, freesia, sweetpeas, and waxflower.
