{"id":901866,"date":"2026-04-18T02:18:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T02:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/901866\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T02:18:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T02:18:43","slug":"5-years-ago-queen-elizabeth-sat-alone-during-one-of-the-saddest-moments-in-royal-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/901866\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Years Ago, Queen Elizabeth Sat Alone During One of the Saddest Moments in Royal History"},"content":{"rendered":"

The death of Prince Philip<\/strong> marked a huge loss for the royal family, specifically his widow, Queen Elizabeth<\/a> II<\/strong>. Photos from his funeral<\/a> showed one of the saddest moments in modern British royal history.<\/p>\n

The Duke of Edinburgh was laid to rest after an intimate funeral on April 17, 2021, two days after he died at Windsor Castle at the age of 99. Due to restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, only 30 people attended Philip\u2019s funeral at St George’s Chapel within Windsor Castle.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Princess Diana’s Quotes on Parenting<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The public mourned the longest-serving British royal consort in history, and hearts broke everywhere when photos released from the service showed Elizabeth sitting alone, wearing all black during the service.<\/p>\n

\"WINDSOR,<\/p>\n

WINDSOR, ENGLAND – APRIL 17: Queen Elizabeth II takes her seat during the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on April 17, 2021 in Windsor, England. Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark was born 10 June 1921, in Greece. He served in the British Royal Navy and fought in WWII. He married the then Princess Elizabeth on 20 November 1947 and was created Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich by King VI. He served as Prince Consort to Queen Elizabeth II until his death on April 9 2021, months short of his 100th birthday. His funeral takes place today at Windsor Castle with only 30 guests invited due to Coronavirus pandemic restrictions. (Photo by Jonathan Brady – WPA Pool\/Getty Images)Jonathan Brady – WPA Pool&sol;Getty Images<\/p>\n

Also in attendance were the couple\u2019s four children, now-King Charles<\/strong>, Princess Anne<\/strong>, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor<\/strong>, and Prince Edward<\/strong>, as well as their grandchildren, Prince William<\/a><\/strong>, Prince Harry<\/a><\/strong>, Peter Phillips<\/strong>, Zara Tindall<\/strong>, Princess Beatrice<\/strong>, Princess Eugenie<\/strong>, Lady Louise Windsor<\/strong>, and James, Earl of Wessex<\/strong>. In addition, a handful of close friends, like Penny Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma<\/strong>, and other relatives, were also included in the service.<\/p>\n

Although Elizabeth sat alone due to COVID-19 protocols, the photographs were a profound moment of the monarch\u2019s stoicism and private grief<\/a> as a widow. Elizabeth and Philip were married for 74 years, and she famously called<\/a> him her \u201cstrength and stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

The royal family opted out of a state funeral due to the pandemic, but the smaller service more closely aligned with what Philip wanted. The Duke was known not to want a lot of fanfare at his funeral, and royal author Anna Pasternak<\/strong> further explained how Elizabeth honored his wish to avoid \u201ca lot of fuss.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe queen wants to honor him in the way that best reflects his desires, but also touches on the sense of duty that he led in his life,\u201d she told Fox News<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s my understanding he didn\u2019t want the frills of a massive funeral even if we didn\u2019t have a pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: King Charles’ Plans to Celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s 100th Birthday<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Philip was deeply involved in the planning of his funeral, with CNN<\/a> reporting he selected the music<\/a> and ensured the ceremony reflected his military affiliations and personal interests.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth was able to say a final farewell to her husband during his funeral, although she was not able to be at his bedside when he died. Author Gyles Brandreth<\/strong> shared details about the monarch\u2019s whereabouts in his book, Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he came back [from the bath], he said he felt a little faint and wanted help getting back into bed \u2026 The nurse called the Duke\u2019s valet and the Queen\u2019s page, Paul Whybrew<\/strong>, for help \u2014 and he died before the Queen could be called,\u201d the author wrote, per Daily Mirror, noting Her Majesty was asleep in a separate room. \u201cThe Queen wasn\u2019t yet up \u2026 And she wasn\u2019t called until after a doctor had come and pronounced the Duke dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Parade<\/a> on Apr 17, 2026, where it first appeared in the News<\/a> section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The death of Prince Philip marked a huge loss for the royal family, specifically his widow, Queen Elizabeth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":901867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7708],"tags":[173775,21076,55687,393,51429,28691,253939,447,11572,532,1763,5105,7710,519,448,8688,7859,17203],"class_list":["post-901866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-royals","tag-andrew-mountbatten-windsor","tag-duke-of-edinburgh","tag-elizabeth","tag-england","tag-jonathan-brady","tag-lady-louise-windsor","tag-prince-consort","tag-prince-harry","tag-prince-philip","tag-prince-william","tag-queen-elizabeth-ii","tag-royal","tag-royal-families","tag-royal-family","tag-royals","tag-the-royal-family","tag-windsor","tag-windsor-castle"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116423315112386251","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/901867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}