Britons throng streets of London as they pay last tribute to Queen
By BBC, September 15, 2022In a moment of symbolic unity, Prince William and Prince Harry walked side by side behind the Queen’s coffin as it left Buckingham Palace.
Along with King Charles and other members of the Royal Family, they were processing to Westminster Hall where the Queen will lie in state.
The sight of the brothers together, walking behind the coffin, will evoke poignant memories of their mother Diana’s funeral 25 years ago. Crowds applauded the solemn procession.
The Queen’s coffin, carried on a gun carriage, passed below the Buckingham Palace balcony where only three months ago she appeared for the final moments of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
Bandsmen played sombre music alongside this careful choreography of mourning, Beethoven and Mendelssohn along with the drumbeat of marching feet and the sound of horses’ hooves in the autumn sunshine.
There were ripples of applause and some tears from mourners crowding along the route and looking down from windows and balconies.
Walking on foot behind the coffin were the Queen’s four children, King Charles, Princess Anne and Prince Edward, in military uniform, with Prince Andrew, no longer a working royal, in a morning suit and wearing medals.
And behind them were William, now the Prince of Wales, and Prince Harry. This time they were side by side, unlike Prince Philip’s funeral last year when they had someone walking between them, in what was seen at the time as a sign of separation.
The brothers appearing together sends a strong visual message of family unity, after so much speculation about tensions and disagreements between them. Their wives, Catherine and Meghan, and Camilla, the Queen Consort, travelled in cars behind.
William, Harry, Catherine and Meghan had appeared together at the weekend to greet well-wishers in Windsor, tuning into a public mood wanting reconciliation, and bringing back memories of the “fab four” of young royals.
A thundercloud of media interest has hung over claims of a strained brotherly relationship, now conducted from different sides of the Atlantic.
But it’s not clear what the feelings might really be for a family whose private grief comes with so much public scrutiny.
Catherine is now the new Princess of Wales and the images of the coffin procession will bring back thoughts of another September funeral, when Diana in 1997 was buried from Westminster Abbey.
William and Harry, as young schoolboys, walked in that funeral procession, with their father King Charles and grandfather Prince Philip, in step at a time when their worlds had been turned upside down.
– BBC