USA Today
Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan shared a touching tribute to Prince Philip, who died Friday at 99.
Buckingham Palace said the Duke of Edinburgh “passed away peacefully” at Windsor Castle.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex posted a message remembering Harry’s grandfather on their Archewell website in “loving memory” of the late royal.
A short tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh encapsulating the website reads: “Thank you for your service … you will be greatly missed.”
Philip’s death comes as a personal loss to the monarch and to his family, and a substantial one as the husband of Queen Elizabeth II and Britain’s oldest and longest-serving royal spouse in 10 centuries.
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The working members of the royal family including Prince William and Duchess Kate uniformly updated their social media accounts to mourn Philip’s death. The family members changed their profile photos to reflect their varying crests and posted a black and white portrait of Prince Philip with the same information disclosed in the Buckingham Palace announcement.
Two of Prince Philip’s children, Princess Anne and Prince Edward, honored their father in interviews recorded for broadcast after his death, according to the British network ITV.
Princess Anne, the second-born child and only daughter of Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II, spoke of her father’s influence on the United Kingdom and its people.
“We might all say that maybe they have underestimated hugely his impact on what’s happened since that marriage started, in all sorts of ways,” said Princess Anne, known as The Princess Royal. “From our family, it’s fundamental, because without him it would be completely different. But I think also from the society’s perspective, he’s been able to keep pace with the kind of technological changes which have had such an impact. But, at the bottom of all that, it’s not about the technology. It’s about the people.”
Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex and youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, reflected on the strength of his parents’ marriage.
“My parents have been such a fantastic support to each other during all those years and all those tours and the events overseas,” he said. “To have someone that you confide in and smile about something that you perhaps could not in public is very, very important. To be able to share that is immensely important.”
Harry and Meghan’s tribute comes a month after their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, in which they opened up about the reasons for stepping back from royal duties and moving to America last year in search of more independence and privacy.
Their tribute differed from the social media posts from the rest of the royal family: After last year, the couple no longer uses the “Sussex Royal” brand including the Sussex royal social media account. Harry’s alarm about the harms of social media has grown in recent years after what he and Meghan considered racist and intrusive coverage in the British media.
“We will revisit social media when it feels right for us – perhaps when we see more meaningful commitments to change or reform – but right now we’ve thrown much of our energy into learning about this space and how we can help,” the Duke of Sussex said in an nterview with Fast Company.
The College of Arms, the body that oversees ceremonial protocol, said Friday that the duke’s body will lie at rest in Windsor Castle, where he spent his final weeks with the queen. His funeral will be held in St. George’s Chapel at the castle, the site of centuries of royal burials — and royal weddings, including the 2018 union of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
This news originally appeared on USA Today.
