Elizabeth II, more than ever in the center of attention after the death of Prince Philip

“I’m sorry and I support my mother, who probably feels it more than anyone. “ Prince Andrew, the third child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, served as a spokesperson for the royal family on Sunday, April 11, two days after his father disappeared at the age of 99.

→ PORTRAIT. United Kingdom: death of Prince Philip, an independent spirit

His intervention, in which Andrew echoed the many marks of support from the British, reminds us that if the United Kingdom celebrates, on Saturday April 17, the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh, at Saint George’s Chapel from Windsor, eyes are already on the one who until then seemed almost immortal to the British: their Queen Elizabeth II.

“The Queen is an incredibly stoic person”

The sovereign, who will be 95 years old this Wednesday, April 21, has not appeared in public since the announcement of the death of her husband. But Andrew hinted at his current state of mind. “As you can imagine, the Queen is an incredibly stoic person. She’s thinking, I think that’s the way I would put it, he confided. She described [la disparition de son mari] as having left a huge void in her life. But we, the family, the closest, we mobilize to support it. “

The British press has been reporting, for a week, of the sovereign’s sadness at the time of this funeral, to which only thirty people were invited. However, she has not yet allowed herself to raise the question in the minds of all Britons: will their queen want to stay on the throne without the person who has shared her life for 73 years ? Will she also have the courage and energy to guide a family in turmoil?

A statement from her spokesperson provides part of the answer, seeming to indicate that the Queen, despite her mourning, remained extremely attentive to her family affairs. This spokesperson said that during this funeral for Philip, “Members of the royal family will wear a three-piece suit with medals or a dress. That is, members of the royal family will not wear military uniform. This decision was taken by His Majesty ”.

Prince Philip will be entitled to military honors

This detail on the attire provided for the ceremony may seem trivial. It is not, however. A career soldier (he notably fought during the Second World War), Prince Philip will indeed be entitled to military honors. As usual, the members of the royal family should have, on this occasion, put on the uniforms linked to their official military rank, most of them honorary.

Only one of them, however, could not have claimed it: Prince Harry, who gave up his military titles when he chose to leave his active role in the royal family to live with his wife, Meghan Markle, in Los Angeles, where the latter, pregnant, had to stay.

Yet Harry is the only one in the family, along with Andrew himself, to have taken part in fighting – his uncle in the Falklands War, himself in Afghanistan. The Queen opted for this option in order to prevent Harry from appearing conspicuously isolated from the rest of the royal family. She knows it for sure: these family dissensions, in particular between Harry and his brother William, are harmful to the respectability of the family.

→ READ. Elizabeth II and Prince Philip celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary

Elizabeth II also knows it: the time is not ideal for her to give way to the throne to her eldest son, Charles, himself 72 years old, who has appeared very moved in recent days upon discovering the tributes that the British reserved for his father. Charles, a prince much less popular than his parents with the British who, during the ceremony of the day, will commune with their sovereign, while wondering how long, still, she will remain so.

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