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No one will wear military uniform for Prince Philip's funeral

Author
Newstalk ZB / AP,
Publish Date
Thu, 15 Apr 2021, 8:11PM
(Photo / Getty)
(Photo / Getty)

No one will wear military uniform for Prince Philip's funeral

Author
Newstalk ZB / AP,
Publish Date
Thu, 15 Apr 2021, 8:11PM

The Queen has been forced to step in and mediate a family squabble over who wears what to Prince Philip's funeral.

With one close member of the royal family no longer officially part of the British military (Harry), and another caught up in scandal (Andrew) the topic of who was and was not going to wear their military uniform was causing tension. So the Queen put her foot down.

In a departure from royal tradition the Queen has declared that no family members will be wearing their military uniforms, instead they will don traditional mourning attire.

The move was at least partly to do with a desire not to embarrass Harry, who was forced to give up his military titles when he retired from royal duties and moved to America with his wife, Meghan and young son, Archie.

Sources say that Harry, 36, dearly wanted to wear the same Blues and Royals dress uniform that he wore for his marriage to Meghan Markle in 2018, but he is not entitled to wear it any longer.

Harry was a serving member of the military for many years, and held the rank of captain with the Household Cavalry, so he would understandably be upset to be the only senior royal not in uniform at the funeral.

The waters of family unity got even murkier when disgraced royal Andrew declared that he would wear an admiral's uniform to the funeral, despite making a decision to defer taking up a royal promotion in light of his involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

Andrew has not been officially stripped of his military title and would technically be eligible to wear a vice-admiral uniform to the funeral. It seems that the royal family were aware than Andrew being allowed to wear the uniform, in spite of being embroiled in a scandal, while Harry could not, would send the wrong message.

In order to present a united front, a request was made - and approved by the Queen herself - that the family would all dress the same in morning coats and black ties for the men and simple black outfits for the women.

Royal experts point out that this will be only the second time in more than a century that the royal family did not wear their military uniforms to the funeral of a monarch.

The funeral for Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, will be a royal ceremonial funeral, which is described as a little less fancy and grand than a state funeral but with many similar ceremonial elements.

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