Demise of the Crown: #29: Duke of Edinburgh

As the official public record since 1665, The Gazette has been recording the deaths of monarchs for over three centuries. As part of our ‘Demise of the Crown’ series, historian Russell Malloch looks through the archives at The Gazette’s reporting of the demise of Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

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The most recent funeral for a prince consort, and the first to be organised since the loss of Queen Victoria’s husband Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1861 (Gazette issue 22584), was for the most senior member of the Mountbatten family, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the youngest and only surviving child of Princess Andrew of Greece, whose remains now rested in Jerusalem.

The funerals of Prince Philip’s sisters took place in Germany, which reflected their marriages into European families, but with no ancestral grave that was common to all four sisters. Cecilie, the grand duchess of Hesse, was killed in an air crash, and King George VI was represented at her obsequies at Darmstadt in 1937 by Louis Mountbatten. Theodora was the margravine of Baden, and her funeral at Salem in 1969 was attended by the Prince of Wales (now King Charles III), while Margarita’s funeral ritual at Langenburg reflected her status within the princely family of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.

The last of the prince’s sisters was Sophie, who was buried in Bavaria in 2001. She was the wife of Prince George of Hanover, whose great-grandfather was the last king of Hanover, and whose burial in the Georgian crypt at Windsor was recorded in The Gazette of 1878.

Coronavirus epidemic

Prince Philip died at Windsor in April 2021 (Gazette issue 63316), at a time of great difficulty for his family and the nation, as both were subject to restrictions on the movement and meeting of people because of the coronavirus epidemic. The long-standing plans that were designed to mark the passing of the Queen’s consort had to be overhauled, to address the legal and other restrictions that applied to those who would ordinarily have taken part on such an occasion.

Despite the national health situation, The Gazette reported some of the routine measures that were taken by the government as part of the overall security arrangements, and as advised by the Metropolitan Police Service, the Civil Aviation Authority and the Department for Transport. A statutory instrument was issued on 13 April, a few days before the funeral was scheduled to take place, as the secretary of state for transport had decided “that it is in the public interest to restrict flying in the vicinity of Windsor, Berkshire, by reason of the funeral of His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh”. An earlier instrument restricted the flying of unmanned systems in a specified area by reason of the national mourning (Gazette issue 63349).

The ceremonial itself was confined to the grounds of Windsor Castle. There was no lying in state in Westminster Hall, and no state procession to Westminster Abbey, or carrying of insignia, or attendance of officers of arms. Instead, the prince’s remains were taken from the private chapel to the entrance to the state apartments, and the coffin was draped with a flag that had quarters that represented the kingdoms of Denmark and Greece, the Mountbatten family name, and the city of Edinburgh. The casket also displayed the prince’s naval hat and sword, but – as was now the usual practice – without any coronet or Garter insignia.

Two bearer parties acted within the castle, and a specially modified Land Rover was used to transport the coffin to St George’s Chapel, which recalled the practice of using motorised transport rather than horses at the funeral processions for some European sovereigns. The Grenadier Guards placed the casket on the vehicle, which conveyed it down to the steps of St George’s, where the Royal Marines carried it to the catafalque that stood in the quire, before the altar.

The procession was limited in its scale because of the health crisis. The coffin was attended by eight pall bearers from units of the armed forces with which the Duke of Edinburgh was associated, and recalled his role as, for example, captain-general of the Royal Marines (Gazette issue 39863), and colonel-in-chief of the Intelligence Corps.

Nine members of the duke’s family walked behind the Land Rover in morning dress, with the Garter star being worn by the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, the Dukes of Cambridge and York, and the Earl of Wessex, and the insignia of the Victorian Order by the Duke of Sussex and Sir Timothy Laurence (Gazette issue 59841). They were joined by the undecorated Peter Philips and Earl of Snowdon.

The Military Knights of Windsor saluted the coffin as it passed their lodgings in the lower ward, while the scene in the chapel was unprecedented. All of the seating had been removed from the nave, which now contained no more than the choir master and four choristers, who sang the funeral service with the tombs of the Prince Imperial and King George and Queen Mary as a backdrop. The ritual was conducted by David Conner, the dean of Windsor and register of the Garter, and by the archbishop of Canterbury, who performed their roles with Edward and Alexandra’s tomb in view, close behind the altar.

Images of the service that were seen by an international audience conveyed the challenging circumstances in which the service was performed, as the Queen sat alone, wearing a face covering, in a seat below the stalls and banners of the knights of the Garter.

Knight of the Garter

Prince Philip’s insignia was placed on cushions on the altar, which showed his ensigns as a knight of the Garter, as grand master and knight grand cross of the Order of the British Empire (Gazette issue 39859), and as a member of several other British orders. The display also incorporated his field-marshal’s baton (Gazette issue 39752), and the badges of six Commonwealth orders, as well as the insignia of two orders that commemorated his family background, the Danish Elephant and Greek Redeemer. For reasons that may point to the prince’s concerns about slavery and human rights abuses, the altar also showed his insignia as a member of the orders of Brunei, Singapore and Zanzibar.

Philip Mountbatten’s final appearance on the public stage was linked to his membership of the Order of the Garter, which he joined in 1947, on the eve of his wedding to Princess Elizabeth, who was then the heir presumptive. The Gazette reported the other home awards that were represented on the altar during his funeral service, starting with the knighthood of the Thistle in 1952, and ending with the Victorian Chain in 2017, as well as his 1953 appointments as a field-marshal in January, and grand master of the British Empire in May.

This use of insignia during a funeral ritual had been noticed in The Gazette since the 19^th century, as in the 1852 account of the display of the Hanoverian, Prussian and Russian batons that belonged to the Duke of Wellington, and the ensigns that were carried in the Victorian processions for the Dukes of Albany and Clarence, whose monuments now stood in the Albert Memorial Chapel.

The remains of the Duke of Edinburgh were placed in the King George VI Memorial Chapel, beside his father and mother-in-law, where they would soon be joined by those of his wife.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at Garter Day

Thanksgiving service

The nation opened to business as the health crisis passed, and a service of thanksgiving for the Duke of Edinburgh was held in Westminster Abbey in March 2022, when the Queen, together with the prime minister, representatives of faith communities and churches, and a large congregation, was able to mark her husband’s life in a way that had not been possible when he died. Those present included the kings of the Belgians, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden, the queen of Denmark, the crown prince of Bahrain, and members of former reigning houses such as “Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown” and “Crown Princess Katherine of Serbia.”

As was to be expected in this context, the ceremony was shaped by the ritual of the Church of England, and the Duke of Edinburgh’s faith was noticed by the dean of Windsor in an address, in which he referred to the prince’s personality, and asked in what was it all rooted? The dean gave an explanation that touched on his connection with the Garter:

“In 1947 Prince Philip was made a knight of the Order of the Garter. On the back of his stall in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, is fixed in perpetuity, and for everyone to see, a small enamelled brass plate on which is inscribed his motto: it is simply “God is my help”. We do not understand the man unless we see him at the heart to be a man of faith.”

Service to the Crown

In dealing with the loss of the sovereign’s consort in 2021, as well as on the earlier demise of the crown, and after the passing of members of the royal family, three clergymen have always played the most important roles in the events that have been described in The Gazette and Court Circular. The dean of Windsor was normally at the centre of affairs in St George’s Chapel, as was the dean of Westminster in the abbey, with the archbishop of Canterbury moving between the two royal edifices.

The appointment of most of the men who filled the three key religious positions have been reported in The Gazette since the 1660s. The Gazette has also noticed the succession of holders of the three civil offices that played an equally important role in the ceremonial connected with the demise of the crown, the regulation of mourning, and the organisation of the related royal obsequies: the earl marshal (and hereditary marshal of England); the lord chamberlain (and ex officio chancellor of the Royal Victorian Order); and Garter king of arms.

All six of the office-holders who discharged such important religious and state duties after a demise of the crown had equally demanding jobs to do in connection with the succession to the crown, and the coronations that followed. Their roles and/or services were often recognised by the sovereign with appointments to their personal order, the Royal Victorian Order, or the grant of the prestigious Royal Victorian Chain.

Since the end of Queen Victoria’s reign in 1901, the individuals shown below have been responsible for most of the religious ritual and royal ceremonial connected with the departure of sovereigns, and their consorts and family members.

The lists below show the person’s status at the time their appointment was gazetted (where appropriate). They do not include those who acted as a deputy, if the office-holder was incapacitated (as when William Weldon stood in for Sir Albert Woods at Victoria’s funeral and Edward VII’s coronation in 1901-02), or if the office-holder was under age (as in the case of Lord Edmund Talbot, later Viscount Fitzalan of Derwent, who acted from 1917 until the Duke of Norfolk reached his 21^st birthday and took the oath of office in 1929 (Gazette issue 33514)).

Archbishop of Canterbury

1901	Frederick Temple, Bishop of London
1903	Randall Davidson, Bishop of Winchester
1928	Cosmo Lang, Archbishop of York
1942	William Temple, Archbishop of York
1945	Geoffrey Fisher, Bishop of London
1961	Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of York
1974	Donald Coggan, Archbishop of York
1980	Robert Runcie, Bishop of St Albans
1991	George Carey, Bishop of Bath & Wells
2002	Rowan Williams, Bishop of Monmouth
2013	Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham

Dean of Windsor

1901	Philip Eliot, Canon of Windsor
1917	Albert Baillie, Vicar of St Michael’s, Coventry
1944	Eric Hamilton, Bishop of Shrewsbury
1962	Robin Woods, Archdeacon of Sheffield
1971	Launcelot Fleming, Bishop of Norwich
1976	Michael Mann, Bishop of Dudley
1989	Patrick Mitchell, Dean of Wells
1998	David Conner, Bishop of Lynn
2023	Christopher Cocksworth, Bishop of Coventry

Dean of Westminster

1901	George Bradley, Canon of Worcester
1902	Armitage Robinson, Canon of Westminster
1911	Herbert Ryle, Bishop of Winchester
1925	William Foxley Norris, Dean of York
1938	Paul de Labilliere, Bishop of Knaresborough
1946	Alan Don, Canon of Westminster
1959	Eric Abbott, Canon of Lincoln
1974	Edward Carpenter, Archdeacon of Westminster
1986	Michael Mayne, Canon of Southwark
1997	Wesley Carr, Dean of Bristol
2006	John Hall, Church of England Officer
2019	David Hoyle, Dean of Bristol

Earl Marshal

1901	Henry Fitzalan-Howard, Duke of Norfolk
1917	Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, Duke of Norfolk
1975	Miles Fitzalan-Howard, Duke of Norfolk
2002	Edward Fitzalan-Howard, Duke of Norfolk

Lord Chamberlain

1901	Edward Villiers, Earl of Clarendon
1905	Charles Spencer, Viscount Althorp
1912	William Mansfield, Lord Sandhurst
1921	John Stewart-Murray, Duke of Atholl
1922	Rowland Baring, Earl of Cromer
1938	George Villiers, Earl of Clarendon
1952	Roger Lumley, Earl of Scarbrough
1963	Cameron Cobbold, Lord Cobbold
1971	Charles Maclean, Lord Maclean
1984	David Ogilvy, Earl of Airlie
1998	Ralph Stonor, Lord Camoys
2000	Richard Luce, Lord Luce
2006	William Peel, Earl Peel
2021	Andrew Parker, Lord Parker of Minsmere

Garter King of Arms

1901	Albert Woods, Clarenceux King of Arms
1904	Alfred Scott-Gatty, York Herald
1919	Henry Burke, Norroy King of Arms
1930	Gerald Wollaston, Norroy King of Arms
1944	Algar Howard, Norroy King of Arms
1950	George Bellew, Somerset Herald
1961	Anthony Wagner, Richmond Herald
1978	Colin Cole, Windsor Herald
1992	Conrad Swan, York Herald
1995	Peter Gwynn-Jones, Lancaster Herald
2010	Thomas Woodcock, Norroy & Ulster King of Arms
2021	David White, Somerset Herald

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Succession to the Crown: From Charles II to Charles III

Succession to the Crown is essential reading for anyone with a keen interest in the British royal family and provides an excellent and trusted source of information for historians, researchers and academics alike. The book takes you on a journey exploring the coronations, honours and emblems of the British monarchy, from the demise of King Charles II in 1685, through to the accession of King Charles III, as recorded in The London Gazette.

Historian Russell Malloch tells the story of the Crown through trusted, factual information found in the UK's official public record. Learn about the traditions and ceremony engrained in successions right up to the demise of Queen Elizabeth II and the resulting proclamation and accession of King Charles III.

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About the author

Russell Malloch is a member of the Orders and Medals Research Society and an authority on British honours. He authored Succession to the Crown: From Charles II to Charles III, which explores the coronations, honours and emblems of the British monarchy.

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