Bishop of Salisbury reflects on the day of Prince Phillip's funeral
Reverend Nicholas Holtam says Prince Philip's funeral will resonate with many of those who have lost loved ones during the pandemic
The Bishop of Salisbury is reflecting on the day of The Duke Edinburgh’s funeral as he is laid to rest in Windsor’s St George’s Chapel at 3pm.
Restrictions are still in place, meaning funerals have a capacity of 30 people and wakes have a limit of 15.
Attending the service are the most senior members of the Royal Family including the Duchess of Cornwall, all of the Duke’s grandchildren and their spouses, the children of the Queen’s sister, and three of Philip’s German relatives.
Bishop Nicholas Holtam says watching a funeral with a limited number of people will feel odd in these Covid times.
“It will also cause us to think a lot about the deaths that we’ve experienced in this last year because of the pandemic, I think there is a lot of grief around at the moment.
“The Duke’s death has become a touch stone for our own griefs and therefore there is quite a lot of projecting on what is happening.
“But above all I think what we’ll be doing is looking in as a nation, giving thanks to god for what an extraordinary life of service and what a long life and what an extraordinary Monarch we’ve got and the way he has been her consort through these years and to give thanks for that.”
The Bishop of Salisbury has met His Royal Highness and The Queen many times.
One visit that is most memorable to him is when the Royal couple visited Sherborne in Dorset, in 2012 as part of The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Tour.
"It was lovely because so many people gathered to meet them and I was really struck at how everybody had a story about the pair and it was either, the last time you saw them or something they said to you."
Churches across the Diocese are remembering Prince Phillip in Prayer today, Salisbury Cathedral held their own remembrance service yesterday.
“The congregation gathered to give thanks to the Duke and pray for him. That feels like quite an important way of gathering around for the Royal family, as we do when somebody dies who is significant to us.
“we want to gather round the people who are closest to us, who are grieving to support them and that feels to me, a very human thing to do.”
The Bishop parts with this message:
“Anyone’s death makes us think about our own mortality, we’ve got to acknowledge the boundaries of our existence and death is not the worst thing that can happen to us, actually what matters most is that we live in love and love is eternal.
“So, when the Queen said that grief is the price that we pay for love, I think that is a really profound truth. And actually, today what we want to do is give thanks for the Duke of Edinburgh, for Prince Phillip and for the love that he was able to share to those closest to him.”
Salisbury Cathedral will join the nation in observing a minute of silence at 3pm in memory of HRH The Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh.