“Grief is the price we pay for love” – Queen Elizabeth II

The Royal Family rallied behind the Queen at Prince Philip’s funeral, making it feel like a private family gathering.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral was a true reflection of a life well-lived, a life of service, and a fitting farewell to an incredible, much-loved character. Emotional, always sentimental, and moving at times, due to the music he had picked himself, the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral was a true reflection of a life well-lived, a life of service, and a fitting goodbye to an unforgettable, much-loved individual.

The Queen and her relatives said their goodbyes to Prince Philip at a one-of-a-kind funeral service where less was more.

Photos of Her Majesty seated alone at the funeral of her spouse, Prince Philip, melted hearts all over the world.

Some observers were reminded of a speech the Queen delivered almost 20 years earlier in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States regarding mourning and suffering.

“Grief is the price we pay for love,” the Queen said at the time, sending her condolences to those who had lost loved ones in the attacks. Many think the Queen is contemplating this sentiment directly as she transitions to life without Philip.

The hymns, a service order without eulogies or sermons, the LandRover hearse he had requested, and the pared-down military parade were all the more powerful for their simplicity. Prince Philip, who died on April 9th at the age of 99, required a send-off without frippery.

However, there was considerable pathos in this ceremony, in which the mourning Queen was forced to sit alone at the front of the chapel due to Covid social distancing laws, with other family members seated separately.

While the cameras were focused on the family as they entered the church, it seemed like a private family gathering.

They would not have been able to say farewell like this at any other moment.

“At every stage of our national story for the last seven decades, he has been there,” UK Labour chief Ed Miliband said in the House of Commons. “A symbol of the nation we hope to be at our best. A source of stability. A rock .”

“Her Majesty once said that “grief is the price we pay for love”. The Duke loved this country. And Britain loved him in return. That’s why we grieve today. But as we remember him, we must also celebrate him .”

Starmer lauded the Duke of Edinburgh’s “ceaseless optimism about the country Britain can be, and what the British people can achieve” and said it was right that the Commons was recognising “the virtues he personified.”