For a moment the national mourning was paused, replaced by a glimpse of the profoundly personal sadness of family loss. As the Earl and Countess of Wessex departed Windsor Castle yesterday, the windows of their car were lowered, and the Queen’s favourite daughter-in-law offered a few words of comfort to those close enough to hear.
Responding to a question from an onlooker, Sophie shifted in her seat as Prince Edward steered their car and replied through the open window: “The Queen has been amazing.” It wasn’t much; it didn’t need to be. Sophie’s glistening eyes told their own story of the heartbreak behind palace walls.
The Wessexes were the first members of the royal family to arrive at Windsor to pay their respects to the Queen on the morning after Buckingham Palace’s announcement of the death of the Duke of Edinburgh.
Outside the castle, neither the efforts of the Palace and the police nor the grey skies overhead could prevent mourners from gathering to pay tribute to the late duke.
While his death at the age of 99 — after a recent hospital visit — could scarcely be described as a surprise, there was no mistaking the shock that many still felt at the ending of an historic marriage.
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To some, the Queen and her consort had seemed almost invincible, an indelible element of the British psyche, at the helm for as long as most Britons have been alive.
“They said on the news that we should try not to come,” said Sharon Major, 53, whose son, a soldier, is stationed at Windsor with the Queen’s Guards. Major arrived from Carshalton, Surrey with her 78-year-old mother, Yvonne Herron, and said it would have felt “so much less personal” not to be part of the Windsor gathering. “Grief is one of the few times where everyone is equal,” she said.
“They said on the news that we should try not to come,” said Sharon Major, 53, whose son, a soldier, is stationed at Windsor with the Queen’s Guards. Major arrived from Carshalton, Surrey with her 78-year-old mother, Yvonne Herron, and said it would have felt “so much less personal” not to be part of the Windsor gathering. “Grief is one of the few times where everyone is equal,” she said.
Nowhere was that feeling more evident than inside the Wessexes’ car, where both Edward, 57, and Sophie, 56, managed shaky half-smiles and waves as they departed. Sophie was taught by Philip to drive a horse and carriage and over the years she has become one of the Queen’s closest confidantes. The most reliable of daughters-in-law has been present alongside the monarch at many public occasions since the duke retired from public duties in 2016.
Their appearance lent a simple, human warmth to a difficult day for the monarchy. Courtiers have been prepared for the duke’s death for years — he came within a few weeks of his 100th birthday, but had previously suffered a number of health problems and plans for his funeral have often been modified.
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Nothing quite changes things like Covid-19, however — although lockdown rules proved scant deterrent to those determined to mark the duke’s death in person. “He was such an amazing man. Even if you had something planned, there was just a pull to come here,” said Abbi Essex, 57, who came from Leatherhead with her friend, Liz Willis, 58.
All day, people weaved their way up Windsor’s cobbled streets to the castle to lay flowers, leave notes or simply stare at the towers and walls that guard the Queen’s private apartments. Families and dog walkers abandoned weekend routines and came to Windsor instead.
Wayne Dillett, who arrived from Amersham in Buckinghamshire with his partner, Lauren Anderson-Smith, was among those who felt the draw of a momentous royal occasion. “It makes you feel patriotic,” he said. They brought their three children, Georgia, 6, Frankie, 3, and Ronnie, to learn a little of the duke. “He was a bit different from the others, he said it how it was,” Dillett added.
Philip was rarely given to self-promotion but he touched many people through his Duke of Edinburgh awards scheme and the 800 charities he supported; his 22,000 solo engagements and the more than 5,000 speeches he gave.
For some younger visitors, it was through the Netflix series The Crown that they first learned of his story and felt an interest blossom. Samantha Imafidon, 23, described Philip as “a huge advocate for technology ... he was the one who pushed the Queen to give her first broadcast address.”
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Others saw him as a royal family outsider, a man born a prince of Greece and Denmark who was forced into exile, given refuge in Britain and grew up to marry the country’s future queen.
David Stevens, 44, arrived from Basingstoke with his wife Teresa and their daughters, Caprice, 7, and Hosanna, 5. “We came for Diana as well,” Stevens said. “Philip was like her, because he took the time to speak to people. There was no first and second class.”
Bunches of flowers began to pile up around the castle soon after the duke’s death was announced on Friday. Yesterday, locals complained that police had cleared many of them away. Those who turned up with bouquets were told to leave them at Cambridge Gate, the entrance to the castle from Windsor Great Park. “Thank you from the Commonwealth” said a card attached to one bouquet. Another attached to a single white rose said simply: “It was an honour to have met you.”
Throughout history, the royal family has served as a mirror to the life and times of this country, and the arrangements for Philip’s funeral will once again reflect a broader national reality. Like so many others, the Queen was not able to visit the duke in hospital, and like so many others, her family must now grieve with restrictions in place.
For many of those gathered quietly in the rain yesterday, the duke’s death was at least partly symbolic of all the relatives whose hands we have not been able to hold, the bedsides we have not been able to sit beside over the past year.
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There is also a sense of great sympathy for the widow Philip leaves behind. “I just feel so sorry for the Queen, she is so alone now,” said Louise Harriden, 52, who had travelled to Windsor from Staines with her husband Paul, 53. Others mingling outside the castle gates wondered if she would “carry on”.
The safest bet in this saddest of weeks is that the Queen, at least for now, will carry on. That’s why her daughter-in-law called her “amazing”. Carrying on, whatever the burdens she has to bear, is what she always does. That is also why people went to Windsor yesterday: to show their solidarity and thank her for carrying on.
