Featured Image Credit: FIONA HANSON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images/Jonathan Brady - WPA Pool/Getty Images
Topics: Coronavirus, Covid-19, News, Royal Family, The Queen, UK News
Rhiannon Ingle
Topics: Coronavirus, Covid-19, News, Royal Family, The Queen, UK News
Many people will remember images of the late Queen Elizabeth II when she attended her husband Prince Philip's funeral under Covid restrictions.
Due to strict social distancing restrictions, the late monarch was forced to attend the ceremony at St George's Chapel completely alone and masked up in April 2021.
While people across the globe had to endure similar situations when their loved ones passed, Brits were particularly upset when seeing the Queen mourn for her husband of nearly 74 years.
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The Queen also reportedly had an equally 'heartbreakingly' simple act after Prince Philip died.
Her close friend and senior dresser, Angela Kelly, reportedly revealed the act to royal author and former MP, Gyles Brandreth, who wrote about it in his book Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait.
An excerpt of the book saw the expert writing: "Immediately after Prince Philip's funeral, she returned to her apartment in Windsor Castle in silence."
It continued: "'I helped her off with her coat and hat', her dresser, Angela Kelly, remembered, 'and no words were spoken'. The Queen then walked to her sitting room, closed the door behind her, and she was alone with her thoughts'."
Speaking in a speech in 1997 to mark the couple's 50th wedding anniversary, the Queen referred to Philip as her 'strength and stay'.
She said: "All too often, I fear, Prince Philip has had to listen to me speaking. Frequently we have discussed my intended speech beforehand and, as you will imagine, his views have been expressed in a forthright manner.
"He has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years, and I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know."
The late monarch died in September 2022 at the age of 96, and ruled for an impressive seven decades.
She first met Philip in 1934 at the wedding of Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark to Prince George, Duke of Kent. Their engagement was officially announced on 9 July 1947 and they tied the knot officially just a few months later in late November.
This marked the very beginning of what would become the longest royal marriage in history.
The pair went on to have four children together; Charles who was born the year after they wed in 1948, Anne born a few years later in 1950, Andrew born a decade later in 1960 and their youngest child, Edward, born in 1964.