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Sophie, Countess of Wessex, has opened up about her father-in-law Prince Philip’s funeral, recalling the exact moment “when everything stopped”.
Sophie, Countess of Wessex, has recalled the poignant moment when “everything went still” at Prince Philip’s funeral in April.
The Duke of Edinburgh died, aged 99, at Windsor Castle on 9 April, and was laid to rest shortly after at St George’s Chapel in Windsor.
Speaking alongside her husband, Prince Edward, in a lengthy interview with The Telegraph, Sophie recalled the exact moment “when everything stopped”.
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“It was when the order was given to the soldiers to invert their weaponry,” she said, referring to when military personnel on the Quadrangle at Windsor Castle bowed their heads and reversed their rifles in advance of the arrival of the Duke’s customised Land Rover hearse.
“Everything went still,” she added.
But it was seeing her husband of nearly 22 years walking behind his father’s coffin that was also “a real, ‘Oh my goodness moment’. I think the fact that there were so few of us only served to raise the intensity of it,” she added.
This is only the second time the Countess of Wessex has spoken publicly about Prince Philip following his death.
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Back in April, Sophie, her husband Prince Edward, and their daughter Lady Louise Windsor attended a church service at The Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor shortly after Philip’s death.
Following the service, the couple spoke to members of the congregation, as well as to people who work on the Windsor estate. It was then that Sophie opened up in a deeply personal conversation about Prince Philip’s passing.
The Countess of Wessex said: “It was right for him. It was so gentle. It was just like somebody took him by the hand and off he went. Very, very peaceful. And that’s all you want for somebody isn’t it?”
She and Prince Edward also spoke about how the Queen has been coping with the loss of her beloved husband, whom she once described as her “strength and stay”.
When asked how Her Majesty was coping, Sophie responded: “Thinking of others before herself, she’s amazing.”
