world. >> of course, there's so very much to cover on this very poignant day. we have the funeral for you as well as the family. here to help us walk through it all are msnbc's senior international correspondent keir simmons. he will be joining us at windsor castle. and foreign correspondent molly hunter joining us from buckingham palace. a big welcome to you, both. let's go to you first keir, where you are front and center where it is all going on. we know that the prince's association with the military was foremost throughout his life, and it is reflected at windsor castle today. >> reporter: very much so, alex. they're setting the stage for a royal funeral encompassing two families, the royal family and prince philip's military family. what you are seeing with the live pictures are the royal navy, the royal marines, the royal air force, just to name but a few getting into position to line the route as prince

philip's coffin will be taken from the state entrance of windsor castle to the west entrance of st. george's chapel behind me there. there will be so many moments and every moment will have meaning. some of those troops that you can see lining up, the royal marines will carry prince philip's coffin into the chapel. the artillery will fire a gun salute with world war i guns, guns that the queen's father put in place for ceremonies just like this. everything was planned by prince philip himself, including the greenland rover that will carry his coffin as his children and grandchildren walk behind for that eight-minute walk to the chapel. we will see moments that will bring out prince philip's sense of humor, when his coffin is lowered into the royal vault the

bugler's will play "battle stations." it is the call on a naval ship for everyone to get into battle positions. "action stations" it is called. these little moments i think will reflect prince philip's character. at the same time it is going to be a scaled down event, and i think it will be particularly poignant in st. george's chapel behind me there. because when you go into the chapel, it is a cavernous space. for 30 members of the royal family to be there, i think it will be sobering and somber, and in particular to see the queen herself sitting alone with a mask saying goodbye to her husband. i think this day will be about prince philip's past, but it also will be about the queen's future. guys. >> absolutely. to think of the queen, the monarch losing her husband of 73, nearly 74 years. he was to turn 100 years old in

two short months. i know so many were hoping he would make it to that milestone. keir, we will check with you shortly. >> molly, let's go on with that. this is a woman who is losing her husband of over 70 years, more than 70 years. we talk so much about the royals as if it is just an institution, but this is a marriage that spanned decades, a marriage that went through so many milestones, both for the world and for themselves. what's it going to be like with this transition for her, losing her partner of so many years? >> reporter: katie, i agree with keir. i think watching the queen's face today, of course slightly more difficult because she will be wearing a mask, but watching the queen go through today is going to be extraordinary. she will be in that state family, she will have a lady in waiting in that state bentley at the back of the procession. she will get out of the car, go into the chapel and sit by herself. this is grieving widow going forward, but i will say on the

technical front she has been doing a lot of this. but we also have heard from the other senior royals. they will step up and be by her side. we have seen unbelievably thoughtful statements from her grandchildren this week who said we will not only honor prince philip but we will be there for her, we will show up for her, we will be standing next to her. it has been a sweet side of social media in the last few days to see all of those tributes. obviously love for their grandfather and great-grandfather, of course, but sending their love for the queen and vowing to be by her side as she goes forward alone. >> keir, can we address the elephant in the room, talk about the drama, princes william and harry won't be walking side by

side, but they will be together beforehand. tell us what we know. >> reporter: we don't know very much and i think they want it that way. i think that today they want the focus to be on their grandfather. that's what they will be focused on. i think what you achieve by separating them actually is that you lessen the possibility that people are watching all the time for those moments when they don't look at each other or they don't speak when they could have done. so i suspect that this is choreographed in order to try to prevent the gossip, if you like, on a day like today which has so much meaning. look, there will be poignant moments for prince harry in particular. for example, when the royal marines lift his grandfather's coffin into st. george's chapel, he, of course, was head of the royal marines until he chose to step back as a senior royal. he lost that position, if you look. some of the talk is that -- and i think this is probably about

right, that the queen decided that members of the royal family would not wear military uniforms in order to step away, if you like, from the controversy and the challenges if prince harry were not wearing a military uniform. he will be wearing his medals, we are told. they will all wear their medals, but it is clearly very, very difficult for these two brothers and at the same time i think, as so many families do, they will put that aside on a day like today. >> all right. keir simmons at windsor castle, molly hunting at buckingham palace. we thank you both so much. i know we will see you throughout the morning so stand by. joining us from buckingham palace is tim yort, a former royal editor. and daisy mcandrew, from windsor castle, royal contributor. welcome to both and thank you for joining us. my first question is to you,

daisy, regarding what we were just talking about. we called it the elephant in the room, and that is all that will be focused on, the relationship between wills and harry. but there's something that has been overlooked or not particular mentioned top of mind, and that is with peter phillips walking center between the two boys. peter phillips is the elder of the three young men. he is 43 years old. so it would seem to me like there's something about tradition and the oldest first that's being represented here, perhaps less so than whether or not harry and wills are standing next to one another. >>. >> reporter: i think it is absolutely right and well spotted by you. it has been overlooked by other people. peter phillips is the oldest grandchild of the queen and the duke of edinburgh. he is 43 years old. william and harry have always looked up to him as their big first cousin, and i think he could play a significant role of bringing the two younger men

together. he was reputed to be prince philip's favorite grandchild. they shared a lot of interests in common. he was a rugby nut. they went duck shooting together, and peter was always the one that insiders said could cheer philip up if he was in a bad mood. i think there will be a hope today he will be able to spread a bit of the cheer to the young princes. >> so much of the coverage is going to focus on them by nature of the interests surrounding those two brothers. i do want to look though at a live picture of windsor. this is a small crowd that has gathered, a smallish crowd that gathered to say goodbye. obviously with covid restrictions things are a lot different than they would be. i wonder, tim, given that it was scaled down significantly from what would have been thousands to just 30 people who will attend this funeral, i wonder if that was something of a relief for the queen to make this a smaller, more intimate affair. >> reporter: yes, i think that's right. i mean this is a very personal

day for the queen, apart from everything else. this is a time for her to mourn a husband who, as we have heard, she was married to for 73 years. she was only 21 years old when they got married and he has been at her side, public and private, a shoulder to cry on ever since. i'm pretty sure she may not be regretting this is not the big occasion that it was supposed to be were it note for the pandemic. as you have said, 800 people were going to be invited to this funeral. now there is just 30 wearing masks. the most difficult decision i guess she has had to make is who to invite and who to leave out. so for her it is a very intense day of personal grief. i don't think we should lose sight of that amid all of the other issues, and there are a lot of other issues that are going on. >> let me ask you, daisy, you are right there. we understand that shortly we

will be hearing prayers that will be led by the dean of windsor, david connor. a blessing will be pronounced by the archbishop of canterbury, justin wellby. will that be a first start to things? that will be held at a more private location, not in st. george's chapel? >> reporter: absolutely right. reknow over the last few days the queen's faith has sustained her. she has a very deep faith. in fact, somebody that knows her well said to me today, she is a woman driven by duty and sustained by faith. prince philip's coffin has been laying in the private chapel that is just a one-minute walk down the green corridor from the queen's personal, private apartment here at windsor castle. we know she has been visiting his coffin. she has been praying in that private chapel. of course, today, as tim was saying, is a much more public event. she has talked in the past about grief.

in fact, it was 20 years ago after 9/11 that she sent a message to the american people specifically talking about grief, and there was one line in that message she sent to the states that said, "grief is the price we pay for love." it seems to me that that's a sentiment she will be feeling a lot today. >> so if things are all on time, the prayer should be happening right now. it is 9:10 here. that's the schedule. we are not seeing it as of now. i wonder, you know, we put again so much focus on the tradition and the trappings and the institution, but i'm having a hard time separating myself, imagining, tim, what it must be like for a family to lose their patriarch after this long and a wife to lose her husband, her husband of 73-plus, 74 years. >> reporter: well, you know,, you would have to be over 70 years old to remember a time when the queen wasn't on the

throne with prince philip at her side in this country. they are a part, whether you are a monarchist or a republican, whatever your view about the monarchy is, they are a part of the fabric of our lives. that has now changed. this is a reminder of transition, that there are big changes ahead for the monarchy. it is a day to look back, but i think it is almost a day to look forward. obviously dominated at the moment by personal grief, but nevertheless a time for people to reflect on the monarchy, the queen carrying on without prince philip at her side, and the role of the next generations of royals, not least without the contribution of prince harry. that was going to be at the queen's express wish, a very big contribution indeed. >> she will, indeed, be shouldering so much of this on her own, but it has been reported that her family will be rallying around her. perhaps we will see the queen

and members of her family much more often in future on her official engagements. tim and daisy, both of you stand by, please. we will take a very short break. but for all of you, our special coverage of "remembering prince philip" continues right after this. clara didn't believe gain scent beads could make her sheets smell amazing days later. boy was she surprised! and the more nights that go by, the more surprised she gets. her husband is surprised too. gain scent beads we started with computers. we didn't stop at computers. we didn't stop at storage or cloud. we kept going. working with our customers to enable the kind of technology that can guide an astronaut back to safety. and help make a hospital come to you,

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♪ ♪ welcome back to our coverage of the funeral of britain's prince philip. we are waiting for the procession to begin from the state entrance of windsor castle a few minutes from now. what you can see right there is that land rover, personally designed by prince philip for this occasion. we can also see, though not in this picture, his own carriage. he loved carriage driving, and there is an empty seat where he would have sat with his cap and his gloves and his blanket. tim, so much of this ceremony is just, frankly, so foreign to an american audience. can you just walk us through what we've been seeing? >> reporter: well, this is the preparation for what would have been a ceremonial -- well, it still is, but it would have been a much bigger ceremonial

funeral. there are all sorts of issues over this funeral which wouldn't normally come into play. normally for a funeral like this the royal family would be in military uniform. they are not today. as you have heard, there are issues about that, specifically concerning prince harry and prince andrew. there will be no sermon. there will be no eulogy. the prince, prince philip himself, designed this service. it is being run to his specifications. he chose the hymn, he chose the psalm, he chose what insignia of his would be placed on the altar. so his hand is very, very much on this. he was a big, big presence in his life, albeit somebody we think of as being in the background at official events, but he was a very big and strong personality and he remains so to this day. he designed and wrote the running order for what you are about to see. >> you know, last time i was in

windsor was a few years ago covering the wedding of harry and meghan, and they i believe walked up these very same steps. correct me if i'm wrong, tim. this chapel in windsor is the site of not just funerals but also many celebratory events for the royal family. >> it has got massive royal history. of course, there will be many people thinking of that day that you refer to three years ago when the mood was very different. the weather was as it is now, bright and sunny. i was there myself. the atmosphere was incredibly celebratory. there was great excitement about the future. this, we thought, was without exaggerating the dawn of a new royal age, a new royal couple bringing a completely different feel to the royal family. it was a fairy tale, like a lot of fairy tales surrounding the house of windsor, it very quickly went wrong. that will be in a lot of

people's minds today when they see prince harry, how sad they will feel that the future that was promised on that day three years ago has not been fulfilled. >> yeah. i think a lot of people, tim, will be watching very, very closely to see the body language between the brothers, see if the rift at all may have been, at least the ice thawing somewhat with the fact that they are seeing each other for the first time in over a year here for this momentous occasion and something, you know, you hear that grief binds people together and perhaps it will do so with these brothers who have had such extraordinary histories together. let's bring in, once again, nbc news foreign correspondent sarah harman, joining us from windsor. sarah, i know you are outside there among the crowd as we are looking at military processionales inside at windsor castle. forgive me if i do interrupt you for the solemnity of what we're

seeing but katie mentioned how jubilant it was when she was there a few years ago for the big wedding. not so today. it is probably a lot more passive in the crowd but more people than one thought would actually be there as one moment, sarah, we are watching the beginning of the processional here. just one moment and i will cue you in in just a moment. yeah, sarah, again, we are watching the beginning of the official procession. there will be, of course, those by car traveling down to st. george's chapel and those also that will poignantly be walking behind the casket of prince philip, the duke of edinburgh. sarah, talk about how people are feeling today, what you are sensing in windsor. >> reporter: hey, alex. good morning. yeah, people have actually been asked, as you mentioned, not to

gather here in windsor. to that point, there's not actually anything to see. behind these castle walls we can only imagine the atmosphere is incredibly solemn on this important day for the royal family. outside here, there are small crowds gathering. of course, there's also media. any time there's a big royal event, it is hard to keep crowds away. the royal family has certainly tried. as we were driving into windsor, there were actually billboards on the highway advising people not to gather at the royal residences. the family is very much hoping that people will choose to tune in on television or on the radio rather than gather here in windsor. it has to be said though, windsor castle is in the middle of windsor town. you guys have been here. you know it is right across from the train station. this is also the first weekend people here in the uk have been allowed out and about, to pubs and to shops. so given the nice weather, there

are perhaps more people than the royal family might have wished for. we are expecting in the next 40 minutes behind me that clock tower, the bell to go off, signaling the minute of national silence. windsor lies directly under the heathrow flight path, and the flights are actually going to be stopped for several minutes for that moment of silence. alex. >> yeah, that is extraordinary. again, we are seeing some of the elder members of the royal family. we saw edward, the duke of kent, getting into a car to move down from the private family quarters down to st. george's chapel. we will see others following as well. >> and it is going to be a small processional, a small group of family members who will be trailing the personalized hearse that prince philip designed himself, again, that land rover that he designed specifically for this occasion. we will not see the queen walking behind it. she will be in her own car at

the end of the processional. joining us now is our friend and msnbc contributor katty kay. what we are witnessing right now is a solid moment for the uk and for the commonwealth. it is also a transition for this family and for the country. when we watch today and we see the pomp and circumstance and the ceremony, what will you be keeping a keen eye out for? >> i think it is that mixture. it is as you suggest, katie, prince philip was part of that greatest generation. he was born during the first world war. he served his country during the second world war. he came and joined the british monarchy at a time of huge turbulence in europe, and he represents a different era. we are watching some of the younger members of the royal family, those who aren't going to be walking with the hearse, going in these cars. they're the future of the royal family. but he, he guided the monarchy

through a very difficult time in the british country and in the british monarchy. if you think about it, he married the queen not long after her uncle had abdicated and the future of the british monarchy wasn't very certain at that point, it was shaky. having lost his own family's monarchy, the greek monarchy having been overthrown, he was acutely conscious of shoring up and stabilizing the institution of the monarchy. in a sense, what we are watching today i think is a tribute to his role, to his extraordinary powerful role, often unrecognized role in making the british monarchy the strong, stable family it is today. yes, there are problems with the brothers, but today people are focused on the queen and on her long, successful marriage and partnership to prince philip and saying thank you. the british public is saying thank you to him for the role that he has played by her side

day after day after day that allowed her to become the incredibly popular, successful monarch that she has been. >> and i should note, katty, it is alex here, we have just seen princess beatrice, the daughter of prince andrew, and her daughter going in. to your point there about prince philip, the fact is that he was a man that was embarking on a naval career. i think it has been reported he had anticipated perhaps 20 years of naval career, which was cut short due to the early demise of queen elizabeth's father, king edward vi. it was something he neither anticipated for probably welcomed, though he did take on that role really magnificently. it has been said that elizabeth is perhaps the most loved person in britain, and he may be the most respected for the fact that he did stand by her side and

support her, even though it was a deviation from the plan. >> yeah, they had this very happy few years in malta, but they were only a few years, you're right, alex, because elizabeth's father died and she took over as queen sooner than either of them thought were going to happen. on his 70th birthday he gave an interview to a colleague of mine on which he was pressed on his naval career and he was asked, is it something you regret that you were never able to pursue that. his answer was classic of the duke of edinburgh. well, it would be inhuman if i hadn't regretted it a little bit. basically he was saying, yes, of course i would have loved to have a full naval career, but it wasn't to be. instead, he spent all of those years walking a few paces behind the queen in deference to the monarchy. in some ways, this week the british public has learned more about the life of prince philip. he has been more the center of attention than he had ever been. >> yes. we should say as we are looking

at that specially designed land rover, absolutely extraordinary, prince philip and his really foresight into the fire department. he was a longstanding champion. i remember listening to a speech he gave way back in the 1950s about conservation and people looked at him somewhat askew because it really wasn't on the minds of many. but this particular land rover, in a military green, it is a hybrid, right? it is electric. he was a champion of that, having worked with land rover for some 18 years. >> yes, and he designed that and actually even asked for it to be repainted in military green, not the green it was originally painted in. he was interested in engineering. he was interested in some arcane subjects, population growth in the country. he was interested in technology, in an advancing economy and, of course, in conservation as well. he was very widely read.

i learned more about the life of prince philip this week than i ever really realized. he was a more interesting, more thoughtful, better read person than i had been aware of because for most brits the focus of our attention has been always on the queen and on her children. he kept himself, you know, he was in public service and in the public eye, he was always a little bit behind her and yet he was a very interesting, thoughtful, well-educated, well-read man who had a wide range of interests right down to designing this hearse for his own funeral. >> we've been learning a lot about him in the past few days. we learned more about him in watching "the crown." i know much of that is fictionalized, especially the private conversations, but he became more a part of the collective conscience from that show, his own personal history. katty, stick with us. back with us from buckingham palace is tim ewart, a former editor. and from windsor castle, daisy.

i want to pick up with where katty was leaving off, daisy. tell us about who prince philip was. >> i think katty's point there about how we learned so much more about him in the last week than we knew before and it was very deliberate. he always said that he shouldn't be the story. he was impossible to interview. if you or i were interviewing him, he would turn the question around on us and say, that's not interesting if you asked him anything personal about himself because he didn't think that he should be the story. he thought the monarchy should be the story, his wife, the queen, should be the story, but he should be behind the scenes. as you were saying, incredibly well-read. he had a personal library of more than 13,000 books and he was interested in so many different things. he was one of the first environmentalists this country had ever seen. he was one of the first proponents of organic food and farming at this country had seen at a time when most people

thought it was quite nutty and sort of avant garde. he was a military man to his core. we will see that in the ceremony today. there will be the bows and pipes that will be played, like a little whistle that is traditionally played on the ships, representing his naval career. they have different commands that mean different things. so there will be a pipe that is normally a change of command, a change of leadership. that will be a poignant moment. there is another separate note on the whistle that means there's a special dignitary on board, that will be played as well. then there will be the departing pipe as well. so lots and lots of military touches. his personal standard, his flag, will be on top of the coffin when we see it. that, designed by himself, to represent different elements of his life, the greek and danish flags will be represented on that as well as the castle of edinburgh from which he got thinks dukedom and the

mountbatten family, such a big part of his life. you mentioned the crown there, that was one of the themes going through the story. but that was true, the significance of that family name to mountbatten to be more british. he was introduced to the queen when he was just 13 years old. you can see all of touches today giving us a picture of who he was. >> there will be members of the german side here for his funeral. they were not in attendance to his wedding to the queen so many years ago because of fall-out from world war ii. what we're watching right now are the military bands beginning to play music in the quadrangle of windsor castle. they're awaiting the coffin to be delivered from windsor castle. that should happen in about six minutes from now. we will watch it live as it does. tim, let's continue on with what

daisy was saying. he met the queen when she was just 13 years old. >> yes. it is really quite an extraordinary love story. he impressed her immediately. the suggestion, he was a young naval cadet, she was visiting the naval college at dartmouth with her father, king george vi. sincere said that the meeting had been engineered by lord louie mountbatten who was prince philip's uncle, and prince philip, we are told, showed off a lot on the day but it worked. later on, obviously they became engaged. they were very young when they got married, and i suppose it is fair to say that the most relaxed time of their lives was as a young married royal navy couple on the island of malta where he was the commander of a british navy ship. they lived a social active life with friends, just a normal

couple. what lay ahead didn't seem a reality for prince philip at that time. he didn't know that his wife was going to be queen as young as she was, and then, of course, everything changed. his whole life was turned on its head and he was effectively an outsider in the royal family. when we talk about those who have married into the royal family, most recently meghan markle, princess diana, sarah ferguson, all of those people found it very difficult. prince philip was exactly the same. the courtiers in the building behind me, buckingham palace, regarded him almost with disdain and it was very, very difficult for him to break the mold. he did, of course, through the strength of his personality but it was not an easy beginning for him. >> you know, tim, as we are listening to the military bands in the quadrangle that will be playing as the procession plays

itself out before prince philip's body is moved in that specified land rover hearse of his, when you talk about the relationship between elizabeth and philip, this is a man who had a very much self-determined future. to your point, it had to be changed but there was a bit of a kerfuffle, if you will, with regard to the naming of the family. tradition would have certainly had it that elizabeth would have taken his name, mountbatten, and perhaps that would have been the name of the royal family. but, indeed, she knew that history needed to take precedence here and maintain the royal family as the house of windsor. talk about sort of the back and forth on that. >> reporter: well, he wanted -- his name was mountbatten, and that was what he believed that the family should be called. he said at one point they've even taken my name away from me, but it was made very clear to him very quickly that his duty lay in this building here

primarily as the consort to the queen. he had no choice. there was no option. he was an alpha male in the truest sense of the word, a very, very -- as you heard, a very big personality, a very strong guy, very athletic, very strong willed, and went his own way throughout his life as much as he could. but primarily, he worked to a sense of duty, and that duty required him to be two steps or one step behind the queen in public, and that's what he had to adapt to. we talk sometimes about indelicate things that he said. very often his role was to put people at their ease in those royal meetings, and he did that very successfully and for many, many years around the world. >> he did, indeed. tim, the queen acknowledged that in really what was a very, very loving statement a number of years ago. i'm just to read it. what she said, quote, 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 that we shall ever know. you know, when we watch the queen, she is so formal and, by all accounts, she is even pretty formal with her children and her grandchildren. the one person, it seems, that she was able to let her guard down with, the one person who would put his arm around her was prince philip, was her husband. he had nicknames for her. daisy, talk about the loss, losing the person that you can be yourself with, that has to be immense. >> reporter: it has to be immense. of course, many people say, well, how lucky she was to have such a long marriage, more than 70 years. it is more than most of us get or even expect. on the other hand, she has had this extraordinary life and doesn't know any different than having him at her side.

it is interesting. if you look at pictures, both informal family pictures that have been released or formal pictures, you cannot find a single one of the two of them showing any, what we might say as a pda, a public display of affection. sometimes she has her hand through his arm, but there's never any hand holding. but in private everybody who knew them well says actually they were affectionate and it was most definitely a love story. they are very different personalities, they were very different personalities, as tim was saying philip an alpha male, very much in control of the households, put in charge of the different households in a formal capacity. the queen herself was a much more reserve, shy person as a young woman and going up, more formal, more thinking about service and duty. as tim was saying, prince philip, much more of the joker, much more of the person that would crack, sometimes

unfortunate, but more often than not fortunate gags and jokes that would put at their ease. a number of times i saw him do just that at garden parties at buckingham palace when he was meeting young people who had done this duke of edinburgh award, this outward bound award for teenagers, he would come in with a comment about what somebody was wearing or whatever it might be that would make them laugh. suddenly you would see them relax and not be so frightened of this duke they were meeting. so their relationship was very, very strong. also, she always asked his advice on things like the christmas message she did, she would write, the big speeches she would do. he would always write between his own speeches. he made between 80 and 100 speeches a year and wrote them all himself. he was a tireless and hard worker and devoted to her. >> what we should see in just about a few seconds are the pall

bearers lifting prince philip's coffin out of the castle and placing it on the hearse, the land rover that he designed for himself on this very occasion. tim, as we watch this, and i want to pause once we see the coffin, but i think we should talk about who the pall bearers are. >> reporter: well, the pall bearers reflect the military background of the prince. they come from different sections of the military, and that coffin, which we should be seeing at any moment, will, as you say, be put on the back of the land rover that was designed to the instructions of prince philip himself, down to the last detail for this very occasion. >> tim. >> reporter: that says something about the force of the personality of the guy. >> tim, we're seeing it right now, so let us just listen.

>> we'll watch this for a couple of minutes.

so we just saw princess anne and prince philip. here they are right there. prince andrew in the middle there. they are the processional amongst family members including princes william and harry, who will walk behind this hearse. behind them we will see the queen, but she will be riding in her own car, not walking behind the hearse. you can notice, alex, there his naval cap sitting atop, his standard, which is atop his coffin. >> yes, and his sword. really in keeping with military tradition. ♪ ♪ >> now they are playing the national anthem so we'll listen

to that. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

let you all know who we are seeing following immediately behind the hearse, you are seeing the princess royal and prince of wales, that being anne and charles, the two elder of the children, followed by the earl of essex and duke of york, those being william and andrew. you will see the duke of sussex, prince harry, and prince philip, the eldest of the grandchildren and son of princess anne. the duke of cambridge, of course, prince william. those will be the three across. following them sir tim lawrence, the husband of princess anne, and the earl of snowden, a cousin to the queen. then you will see a few personal protection officers and private secretaries and pages that will be immediately following the

hearse. of course, the car, which you will eventually see with queen elizabeth. [ bell tolling ] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ [ cannon fire ] [ bell tolling ] ♪♪

♪♪

we are now at the minute of silence across britain book ended by the military firing you just heard.

now you will watch the coffin finish its assent up the stairs. the coffin will be received by the dean of windsor and the arch bishop, along with processional members of the royal family and the duke's household will follow the coffin into saint george's chapel. and when the doors of the chapel close, the piping party will

pipe the carry on, and the remaining members of the procession along with military personnel will disperse. let's watch.

we are here today in saint george's chapel to commit into the hands of god the soul of his servant prince philip, duke of edinburgh. with grateful hearts, we remember the many ways in which his long life has been a blessing to us. we have been inspired by his

unwavering loyalty to our queen by his service to the nation and the commonwealth, by his courage, fortitude and faith. our lives have been enriched through the challenges that he has set us, the encouragement that he has given us, his kindness, humor and humanity. we, therefore, pray that god will give us grace to follow his example and that with our brother phillip at the last we shall know the joys of life eternal. ♪♪

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a reading from the book e cleez yas kus. look at the rainbow and praise its maker. it shines with a supreme beauty, rounding the sky with its gleaming ark, a bow bent by the hands of the most high. his command speeds the snowstorm and sends the swift lightening to execute his sentence. to that end, the storehouses are opened and the clouds fly out

like birds. by his mighty power, the clouds are piled up and the hailstones broken small. the crash of his thunder makes the earth rise. and when he appears the earthquake shakes the hills. at his will, the south wind blows the squall from the north and the hurricane. he scatters the snow flakes like birds are lighting. they settle like a swarm of locusts. the eye is dazzled by their beautiful whiteness and as they fall, the mind is intranced.

he sends salt on the earth and aisles fall like pointed stakes. a cold blast from the north and ice grows hard on the water, settling on every pool as though the water were putting on a breast plate. he consumes the hills, scorches the wilderness and withers the grass like fire. cloudy weather quickly puts all to rights and duty brings welcome relief after heat. by the power of his thought, he tamed the deep and planted it with islands. those are sail the sea tell stories of its dangers, which

astonish all who hear them. strange and wonderful creatures, all kinds of living things and huge sea monsters. by his own action, he achieves his end. and by his word, all things are held together. ♪♪ ♪♪

a reading from st. john's gospel. martha said to jesus, lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. and even now i know that whatever you ask from god, god will give you. jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. martha said to him, i know that he will rise again in the

resurrection at the last day. jesus said to her, i am the resurrection and the life. he who believes in me, though he die, will live. and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. do you believe this? she said to him, yes, lord. i believe that you are the christ, the son of god, he who is coming into the world. ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ let us pray ♪♪

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>> merciful god, the father of our lord, jesus christ who is the resurrection and the life in which whosoever believe shall live, even though he die. and whoever live and believe in him shall not die eternally. you also have taught us, by his holy apostle saint paul not to be sorry as men without hope. for them that sleep in him. when we shall depart this life, we may rest in him as our hope

is this our brother does. and that at the resurrection in the last day, we may be found acceptable in thy sight and receive that blessing which thy well-beloved son to all that love and fear thee saying come, you blessed children of my father. receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. grant this, we beseech thee, oh, merciful father, through jesus christ. amen. >> before who has faced the generation rise and pass away unchanged, abiding. we bless thy holy name for all

who have completed their earthy course in thy faith and following and are now at rest. we remember before thee this day philip, duke of edinburgh rendering thanks unto thee for his high sense of duty and integrity, for his life of service to the nation and commonwealth and for the courage and inspiration of his leadership. to him, with all the faithful departed, grant thy peace. let light perpetual shine upon them and in thy wisdom and mighty power work in thy perfect will. through jesus christ our lord. amen. >> lord, who did give to thy

servant saint george grace. to be faithful even unto death. grant that we, unmindful of worldly honor may fight the wrong, uphold thy rule and serve thee to our live's end through jesus christ our lord. amen. god save our gracious suffering and all the companions living of the most honorable and notable order of the gospel. amen. oh, god of the spirits, of all flesh, we praise thy holy name. for thy servant philip who has left a passing of valiant and

true knighthood. the reassurance of thy ancient promise that will go down to the sea in ships and occupy great waters. we beseech thee that following that good example and strengthened by his fellowship, we may at the last together with him be partakers at thy heavenly kingdom through jesus christ our lord. amen. >> oh lord god, when thou give to thy servants to endeavor any great matter, grant us also to know that it is not the beginning, but the continuing of the same unto to the end until it be thoroughly finished, which wieldest the true joy.

through him for finishing of thy work laid down his life, our redeemer, jesus christ. amen. father of all mercies and giver of all comfort, deal graciously we pray thee with those who mourn, casting every stone unclean. they may know the constellation of thy love through jesus christ our lord. amen. ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

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>> go forth upon thy journey from this world, o christian faith in the name of god, the father. in the name of jesus christ who suffered for me. in the name of the holy spirit who strengthens thee. may thy portion this day be in peace and night willing in the heavily jerusalem. amen.

thus, it has pleased almighty god, the late most high and illustrious prince. knight of the most noble honor, knight of the most ancient and most noble order of the thistle. member of the order of mary, knight grand cross of the royal victorian era, upon who have been the royal victorian chain. grand master and knight grand cross. lord high admiral of the united kingdom, one of her most privy council and marshall of the

royal air force. elizabeth ii. by the grace of god of the united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland and of her other realms queen, defender of the faith, sovereign of the most noble order of the garter, who may god preserve and bless with long life, health and honor and all worldly happiness. ♪♪ ♪♪

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god grant to the living grace, to the departed rest. to the church, the queen and the commonwealth and all people, unity, peace and concord. and to us and to all god's servants, life ever lasting. and the blessing of god, the father, the son and the holy spirit be with you all and remain with you always. amen. ♪♪

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♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ >> you have been watching our continuing coverage of the funeral of britain's prince philip, the queen's husband the duke of edinboro, i'm alex witt. >> the queen joined by her children, her grandchildren and philip's immediate family itself and just 30 people entering the majestic st. george's chapel for what was a scaled down, but nevertheless moving service, it was filled with music

commissioned by prince philip himself. they are keeping to time as they usually do and ginning me now from buckingham palace, and from windsor castle, daisy. we welcome you. poignant, felt perhaps a bit stark seeming no chairs there. it was certainly a scaled-down funeral, but nevertheless, as i started, poignant. you really got a sense of tradition. so, tim, tell me what your biggest takeaway is from having witnessed this over the last 45, 50 minutes, this service. >> well, prince philip was a man who had always said he didn't want any fuss. he didn't want fuss when he was in hospital. he didn't want fuss when he was at home and he made it clear he doesn't want any fuss over his funeral. this was not, however, i'm sure

what he had envisioned, but i found it very moving, as you said and quite haunting. that magnificent setting empty, but somehow the choir filling that great place, the sight of the queen sitting on her own in a mask, head bowed. it was incredibly moving and the music, of course, was chosen by prince philip himself, the jubilate was written by benjamin britain, at the request of the duke of edinboro himself and they had dinner in the 1950s. so the resonance there was really very, very special so i think anybody who watched that, yes, they didn't get a grand state occasion and it wasn't ceremonial in the general sense of the word, but what it was, it was moving and it was deeply personal. >> absolutely. as we watch the queen exiting, she is doing so through the

galilee porch. she is escorted there by the dean of windsor and the archbishop of canterbury both of which participated in the very moving ceremony for his royal highness, the duke of edinboro. as our viewers noted there was a note atop his coffin. that note is from the queen. it is unclear what was said on top of it, but there was writing on top of it. daisy, they're going to now retire to a personal ceremony, a private ceremony and a private get together. what happens next? >>. >> we see the queen accompanied by the lady in waiting who accompanied her to the funeral. this is one of her friends, she

has been part of the queen's small circle of staff members and friends here in her bubble that she is allowed to get to within six feet or two meters of. we know that members of the family that weren't able to be there because of the rule of 30 were given special access to a television feed off the -- of the funeral. so we know, for instance that meghan in the united states was watching that and we believe through that feed, so without the commentary that you would get from the television. what struck me about that service was how the pandemic has been a great leveller. this was the royal family and they were having to conduct a ceremony, a funeral in the way that everyone else is having to do with social distancing, with masks and the queen was having to sit on her own just as anyone else would have to do who is in

the same situation didn't have the usual trappings, albeit, it had the military trappings that a royal funeral would have had, and i think in many ways that would be a reassurance and a comfort to all of the people in this country and around the world who have experienced something similar who have lost people during the pandemic and concede that the royal family having to behave in a way that we all have had to. >> following the same rules and as you were speaking, daisy, we saw quite a striking image of a threesome that we have seen so much in the past. william, harry and kate walking side by side, you can see them right here talking to each other, not separated. i know there was much ado about the separation and the procession, but again, when we look back at images back from their mother's funeral, from princess diana's funeral, sometimes the two princes were separate there. so it's unclear if we should read into anything, into that in

any way, but here they are walking together. we are seeing the immediate family. we saw prince charles and his wife camila, the duchess of corn wall and they'll retire to private quarters for a private get together where they will presumably celebrate the life of the patriarch, their grandfather, further, away from the peering eyes of the public and the cameras. this was for the uk. it was for the commonwealth. it was for the world to see him laid to rest with honor and dignity and all of the trappings that the position bestows. what we didn't see there, daisy, and what we so often see in our own funerals are our personal stories about the duke, personal stories about who he was. memories from individual members of the family from grandchildren, from children, from friends, from loved ones, from his wife.

will they be doing that today? >> there's the thought that there would be a much bigger memorial service at some point. his own record that prince philip actually wasn't a big fan of the memorial service and particularly didn't want one for himself, and that wasn't written down for his wishes and this is what he got and on the subject of a eulogy about him. prince philip had a great habit throughout his life of telling vicars and priests and cardinals and bishops exactly what he thought of their eulogies after the service and he would often write extensive notes and i've spoken to the clergymen who received them. i agree with this theological point and i didn't agree with that theological point. where did you get that from? he thought no eulogy or sermon should be any more than eight minutes. he thought after that you lost

the crowd, if you like. he had a lot of opinions about these things so i don't think he would have minded the brevity of this service himself and just going back to that note that we think was from the queen, according to sources. i've had a good look at it as much as i can on the still photograph, and it does to me like there's a handwritten note from the queen. it's got the black border around it which signifies mourning for the royal family, and it looks like it's signed lily bet which was prince philip's nickname for the queen. he called her his beloved lily bet. if that's the case, another poignant and deeply personal moment. >> everybody calls her her royal majesty and everybody from her grandchildren to her children and he was the one person who called her lily bet. >> absolutely. when i think about that note it

reminds me of what we saw adorning princess diana's casket way back in 1997 when you saw mummy around a similar white display of flowers and that was that small white card and it said mummy from her two young sons. >> it would make me cry right now, alex witt. >> let's move on, daisy, one quick question for you. kate made the point that the processional allowed william and harry to stand with each other and the original three because kate was with them, as well and you saw them conversing with one another. it is hoped, certainly that this would be sort of a reunification of the two brothers. we remember that harry and his now famous worldwide interview last month said that he'll always love his brother to bits, and this is something that i think everybody's hoping that the two of them will be able to come to an agreement and restore

the somewhat divided nature of their relationship at this point. do we know how long prince harry will be staying in england, because let's face it, his wife is very pregnant and i'm certain he'd like to get back to her in california. >> i think that's a very good point. i think if she wasn't so heavily pregnant there would be more of a chance of him staying on longer, and i think you picking up on the fact that it was the three of them there with katherine, with kate, is significant. there have been people behind the scenes saying she could be the key to mending this relationship. harry has said in the past he's described her as the big sister he never had. there certainly has historically been a lot of warmth and affection between harry and katherine, and a lot of people are hoping that she will be the one to try to mend that bridge. so perhaps that's what's happening now. there's some confusion about what's going to be happening

right now. under the rules here in the uk, you can have a funeral for 30, but apparently, you can only have a wake, a party after the funeral for 15. so how on earth do you whittle down that team of 30 down to 15? again, i haven't managed to get any confirmation from the palace about that. they're keeping this bit, this element very, very private. if that is the case, whether or not harry will be allowed to be in that 15 given that he's just been going through quarantine is another unknown question. so we're not sure, but hopefully he will be getting some time with those senior royals, with william, with kate and be able to fix some of the problems in their relationship. >> tim, we are used to placing somebody in their final resting place at the end of the funeral. while prince philip will be interned here at windsor he will

not be placed here for his final resting place. tell us about what will happen with his casket. >>. >> his casket will eventually be moved from one part of st. george's chapel where is the royal vault which will be interred now eventually to the vault named after king george vi who was the queen's father, and that will only happen, sadly, when the queen herself passes away. so that is the process there. just going back to what daisy was saying, if i may. my instinct is that the queen will now very, very much want moving forward, even in her grief to try to see any rift that exists in the royal family healed, and i'm certain that she will want william and harry, however it may happen, whatever the quarantine regulations do or don't allow, whatever travel

plans prince harry will have, i'm sure she will use this occasion to try to get a reconciliation between the two brothers because for her they were the great hope for the future of the royal family. she very much wanted to pass on, obviously beyond her son prince charles, but to pass on to a new generation, and i am sure she would want that rift to be healed as quickly as it possibly can be. >> do we know when prince harry arrived in the uk? it's a 10-day quarantine. i believe he was at frogmore cottage for that quarantine period? has he been there now? ten days? >> no. the quarantine regulations here are what you might call arcane. they're a little bit difficult to understand. my understanding is that he would be -- he was in quarantine for five days. he was allowed out on compassionate grounds to attend a family funeral. now a lot depends on whether

he's had a covid test which i'm sure he has and one assumes it was negative, but it's not clear, i have to say to me, maybe daisy knows this, how much longer he would have to stay in isolation here if at all, but of course, he is allowed under our rules to have a group of six meetings outdoors. it's inside gatherings that cause the problem. so maybe he will meet his brother in the garden somewhere. we just don't know. i honestly don't know. >> daisy, i'll put that question to you. >> my understanding is that as tim said, if prince harry has paid for a private test after five days and that test is negative he's therefore released from his quarantine. what i can't get a sense of anybody is if it's just for the funeral service or if he's now back to normal, as it were. but again, there's this rule of

six. you can meet outside and there's certainly plenty of space in the 13 acres of windsor castle behind me and of course, frogmore where he's staying. >> we know they had asked the british public to stay away. there are those who are devotees to both prince philip and the royal family and they've made their way to windsor castle as has our correspondent sarah harmon. sarah, talk to me about the reaction among the crowd. i assume it was respectful and muted during the service. >> reporter: that's exactly right. you can't actually see anything here outside the castle walls, but that didn't stop people from coming here. there was a moment of silence and alex, it was quite striking to stand in the middle of this crowd and see so many people fall silent. afterwards, was there spontaneous applause and it was very moving and very respectful and i've been talking with a

family who lives within walking distance of this castle about why they came on this historic day. sir, why did you come to windsor today? >> from what you said, it is a historic event. it is something i wanted to bring my children to. we don't live too far away and we try to make a point of coming here for certai events and we were here when prince harry married meghan and there was no point with us staying at home and watching it on the news and it is an important day. >> this is the beginning of the end of what we've known here for 70-plus years. what are your personal feelings about the duke of edinburgh? >> we grew up with the royal family. i'm 50, just turned 50. i mean, i think he represents the older, the tradition, the history of when britain was very

powerful as a nation and so i just think that we're kind of turning a corner. there are so many things, as you americans -- i know you take a great interest in the royal family and all the drama. there's a lot of drama at the moment, isn't there? so i just think it was -- this is like saying good-bye to a, you know, an end of an era, really. >> it is. it is. >> for so many people in america and here in the uk. prince philip is what they've known. guys, we've been talking to people today who tell us they just want to be a part of this historic day. alex? >> thank you so much, sarah for that. we appreciate it. lovely to hear from some individuals out there. sarah, thank you. with us now from windsor castle is nbc's anne thompson. you are based here in new york. you flew over there to cover the funeral. tell us what you had to go through in terms of testing and quarantine to be where you are right now. >> so under the uk rules and

regulations, two days after you land you have to -- you do a self-test. you send it in. you get a result and then on the fifth day you can do something called test for release and that is you pay for a private test and if you test negative then you no longer have to be in quarantine, and that's what we did, and we assume that's also what prince harry did. there's also, under the rules and regulations, a compassionate -- compassionate grounds where if you are the member of a family and somebody died you can go to a funeral, but clearly given the way he was behaving after the ceremony today, you can only assume that he did do that test for release. the other thing i was struck by, katie, watching this ceremony today, for all of the drama that surrounds the royal family, today was prince philip's day and that's where all of the attention went. everything about him from his duty to the queen, to his love for the royal navy, to the very

spiritual side, all of which was evidenced in that funeral. >> so interesting. anne, as you watched this, i know you've covered so many royal events during your time as a correspondent with us. as you watched this, what stood out to you? >> well, first of all, i think there was nothing more heartbreaking, if you will, than watching the queen go through this by herself, sitting alone and when you think -- i mean, it's not just 73 years of marriage. it's more than 80 years of a relationship. she saw prince philip when she was 13 and she really never looked at anybody else since then which is hard to imagine in these days and she was besotted

by him and what i think is extraordinary about this relationship when you think about it is he was -- they were really a modern marriage. i mean, he was a naval officer. his career was on the rise. he'd just gotten command of his first ship when her father died and she became queen and suddenly he had to bury all his ambition, and his ambition had to become her ambition and ultimately theirs and he did that, and he did that by carving a path that no one else had done before. nobody knew what to do with the queen's husband who wasn't a king. what do you do with this man? he found purpose. he found purpose by trying to make the monarchy relevant to the people of today and television played a big role in that. >> he was told that his position, his role was to support the queen, to make sure that she was successful and that's exactly what he spent so many decades of his life doing.

>> yeah, he did. >> alex witt, it has been wonderful to be with you. >> our coverage is not over. i must breakaway to prepare my own show in a few minute, but as always, a true delight with you, my friend. continue for the next 45 minutes and we'll pick up this coverage, as well. >> we will see you back again at noon. alex, thank you very much. >> coming up, much more reaction to the duke of edinburgh's funeral and what is next for the royal family. live coverage continues right here on msnbc. e continues right here on msnbc.

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♪♪ we're back now with our continuing coverage of the funeral of prince philip from windsor castle. keir simmons, nbc news senior correspondent. keir, in watching that we are seeing an end of an era and the passing on of a torch, in

essence, not yet in reality, because the queen is still with us, but talk to me about the future of this royal family, and how much it depends on repairing the rift between the brothers william and harry? >> yeah. katie, today was about, of course, the past, prince philip's extraordinary life and about the future. the future for the queen and the future for the royal family and prince philip guided the family through many challenges, many crises over the decade, but he's not here anymore, and i thought what was incredibly touching was that moment immediately after the service where you saw harry and william and kate leave st. george's chapel together, and talking in a relaxed way together and because of everything we know that's happened in the past few months, that kind of bodes well, i guess. we can't know what they were

saying. we can't know what's happening behind closed doors, but what a lovely thing to see on the day of their grandfather's funeral. i think other things that will make headlines, the queen's head bowed, sitting alone like that, walking from st. george's alone. there are reports that she was seen at one point to wipe away a tear. i think understandably, the cameras were selective when they kind of pointed at her, if you like. i also thought that we saw prince charles looking emotional and remember, his father, prince philip, gave him a tough time, he said, when he was younger for not being strong enough and i love the idea of things coming full circle and on his father's -- on the day of his father's funeral, prince charles able to show that softer side that he has. a very, very nice moment, too, i

thought and then there were also those military moments that were planned by prince philip himself that i thought were incredibly moving. the royal marines playing the last post and that scottish piper walking from the chapel playing as he went. as you say, the end of an era, and at the same time we saw moments there particularly with william and harry of what the future might hold, and of course, prince charles. this family goes on, despite everything and despite losing their patriarch? what does the passing mean for the british public here? >> that's a good question. you know, i think, of course, in the time that prince philip has been with us things have changed so much and the reality is that the british public have a push and pull relationship with the royal family and in some ways

you can say -- in many ways they look up to them, particularly the queen at the same time you can say they suffered them in a certain kind of a way. i think what we have seen many people would argue over recent years is the constitutional monarchy where the leader of the country is the queen, but it doesn't play a political role. it's very stabilizing, if you like. so i think there's that advantage. i do think that for the queen, when we hope this is a long way off, but when the queen passes, that will be a huge turning point for the country, obviously, and prince charles will have to step up and that, of course, will present its own challenges. you know, look, we have seen people in the streets here paying their respects. they were asked not to. it's incredibly hard to measure what it would have been like if

there was not the coronavirus restrictions that are in place, but you know, clearly in this country, deep respect particularly for the queen and people will be very moved to see her the way that we saw her. a very solemn service and made more so by the restrictions and her having to sit alone like that. >> so lonely to see her alone in that pew. here is a live picture outside of windsor castle, outside the walls and you can see there is still a crowd gathered and so unlike a few years ago when we were there covering the wedding of meghan and harry when the streets were just packed, packed with people. when we talk about the future of monarchy, we often skip over prince charles and we talk about william, we talk about harry and we talk about kate. prince charles has gone over peaks and valleys in his time as a royal and his perception by

the country and by the world. he was on an upswing recently and then there was that interview with oprah between with meghan and harry, and i wonder, what is the perception -- what is the support for him among the british public right now? >> reporter: you know, there are ups and downs and there are in all families and in a sense that's what you get with the royal family is you get your own life reflected in them. i'm not suggesting that we all live in palaces or castles like the castle behind me, but there are something like that, but in some ways you saw that again today with the funeral, with the family having to sit separately, and wear masks and how many people, how many families there and here have gone through that in the last year with the coronavirus? there are incredible challenges that the coronavirus has presented and interesting to see the royal family follow those rules. you could argue that they might

perhaps have been able to break the rules, but there's always been this thing with the royals going back to the second world war and past that they always have wanted to try to reflect the people that they represent, if you like. so there are good times and bad tiles with the royals and the story kind of goes on for prince charles. he is, i think, held with affection. i think that there will be always continuing challenges and obviously, the story with diana and it's worth noting, of course, seeing harry and william walking behind the coffin, and i don't think we've seen that since the death of diana. these images have poignancy and long lasting impact. so i think for charles, the thing that we all say about charles is that he has played the role of prince of wales very

well overall. it's a very difficult thing to do to be waiting the way that he is and he's talked about it, and the surreal experience of being waiting for the job, if you like. i think prince charles will face challenges in the future and he will face successes and that is kind of what the royal story is all about. >> given the queen's longevity and the time with which she's spent on the throne there have been conversations with the royals and an interview with prince philip from years and years and years ago talking about whether it would have been prudent to skip over charles and go right to william to elevate him to king over charles. remember, the queen is 94, she's 95 next week. her mother, the queen mother

lived to 102 and at st. george's chapel. >> keir simmons, thank you. lola, political commentator. lola, you are an ex-pat. when you were watching the ceremony and seeing the queen sitting there alone in that pew, how did that hit her? >> to be honest, when she got out of her car, out of the bentley, my heart sank. the queen is a formidable moment and she has a formidable presence and this was the first time in my life that i've seen her really looking quite diminutive, fragile and vulnerable and it made me think, wow, it is the end of an era. obviously for her she's lost the love of her life whom she's been with for a very, very long time. for the country and the world prince philip has been around forever. i'm 40 years old. i've never known a time without him. my parent, in fact, don't know a

tomb without him, so to see the queen there by herself and grieving and looking sad, it just made me think, wow. what does this say actually about the future of the monarchy, as well? it was sad. >> what does it say to you, i know meghan is quite pregnant. i'm about as pregnant as she is. it's the time that you don't get on a plane any longer, but her absence today, is that going to be felt in any way within the uk, within the commonwealth? what does it mean? >> to be honest, i don't think so, and in a way i'm glad that she wasn't there given the level of scrutiny and interest that people have in the relationship between her and harry and obviously after the conversation with oprah. so i feel like this was very much a small, intimate family thing. obviously, she is part of the family, but not having her there

didn't take away from anything and people were looking at william and harry's relationship. life goes on. meghan is pregnant, and i think it was okay that she wasn't there and so many of us have had to deal with loss this year and not being able to attend funerals of the people that we love and so there are many of us that can identify with that. so i think that was okay. >> the loneliness of loss that so many of us have experienced, really exemplified there, seeing the queen sitting alone with a mask in that pew. >> yeah. >> lola, thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. coming up in just a moment we have new reaction coming in from london. our team there talking to members of the british public about the funeral for a man who has been so part of british life for seven decades. h life for seven decades.

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♪♪ ♪♪ welcome back to msnbc's special coverage of the funeral of prince philip. joining us now from london in piccadilly circus is matt bradley, nbc news foreign correspondent. matt, what are you seeing and hearing out there? >> reporter: yeah, katie. this is the times square of london, and i'm actually in front of a jumbotron here. these are images of prince philip's life and the funeral service that just started. there was that nationwide minute of silence. that wasn't really observed here. things are normal. there's a julian assange protest right off to my right shoulder here. the british public is really not as concerned about this as many americans would believe, i think. it belies this notion that the royal family is more than just a

symbolic institution. a lot of people i talked to weren't aware that prince philip's funeral was actually happening today, but yet, you guys were talking about the passing of the torch and the end of an era. those who are aware and are in tune with the royal family, they did mention that they really do appreciate philip's service. he was such a traditionalist. he obeyed the rules, he supported the queen, but at the same time, katie, he did it as they say here with a little bit of cheek and i lot of people i spoke with said they appreciated that the prince was winking at a lot of these stodgy traditions throughout his life and a lot of the things that people said that seem res markable now to our generation are the 72 years of marriage that just ended, more than any significant of a royal family and the ancient royal traditions and it is a family and how that family has been affected. here are a couple of people that

i spoke with here in piccadilly circus just a couple of hours ago. >> he's experienced a lot. he's been through war and he's been through covid. he's been through a lot of changes in england. >> i think he made a big difference as the duke of edinburgh, as well. >> reporter: the prince leaves a legacy that for many brits is hugely important, even though as i was mentioning, this isn't something that's necessarily weighing on the entire country. it is a moment to see a new generation of royals stepping up and taking control and a lot of british people are really welcoming with that. >> we will see what happens. interesting that life goes on there. there's a julian assange protest, as you just mentioned. i wonder how prince philip would have taken that. i imagine that he's been all about no fuss or that's the story, at least, maybe he would have appreciated that life was

getting on without him. >> he would have liked the keep calm and carry on that you see on the streets of london. >> matt bradley from piccadilly circus, thank you so much. joining me is my colleague wilbur ross from "closing bell" and -- from the washington post. i do want to talk to you, wilfried. what's going to happen now? >> i think coming into this week, my starting point was that there was quite a lot of work to be done, not just this week, but over the last couple of months, of course and the best we could have hoped for, perhaps was a turning of the corner and putting in the bottom of the relations and seeing it improve from here, and i would say i was encouraged by seeing them chat there as they walked away from the service, and again, i think there's a long way to go. i don't think things are solved today, but thanks encouraging to see. what i would just add, though is

neither of them based on various conversations with family members ahead of the service were thinking about themselves. this isn't about them today. it was about their grandfather and mourning his loss and celebrating his life and their grandmother, being there to support her and that was the primary concern coming into today. >> how deliberate was it to have the three of them walk out of the chapel together? would that be something that they intentionally do knowing that there are cameras on them? >> no, i don't think so at all. i think you could say some things in the lead-up were intentional, some parts of the service was intentional and i think that was genuinely two brothers walking away and catching up as you can see there, chatting. who knows what was said? that's my personal takeaway of that was that that was encouraging to see. >> jennifer, you know, as well that we've been seeing the queen sitting alone in that pew. harry was also sitting alone in a pew. >> yes. so i think those images of both

the queen and prince harry sitting there in the pew as the funeral ceremony went on, just completely heartbreaking. if you look at social media, there are so many people around the world who are watching this and just seeing this image of the queen who for decades has been just such a strong, constant source of, you know, calm and strength and all of a sudden she's been reduced to this small lady on her own, grieving her husband of 70+ years, and i just think she just appeared so vulnerable and we very rarely see that. we very rarely see her in that light and humanized her in a way that we rarely get to see. >> jennifer, what do you make of what we just saw with matt bradley. he was in piccadilly circus and he said there was a protest going on and not many people were paying attention, even though images of the funeral and images of prince philip were

being blasted on the jumboscreens around. >> it is important to know that a lot of the country is grieving and a lot of the country would have stopped to do the minute of silence and many people at home with their families and loved ones are watching this unfold on their television and there are people that have gone about their day as normal and getting on with things, and that's a nod, in a way to prince philip. he didn't want a fuss. he wanted a relatively small ceremony and he didn't want the procession throughout the streets of london up to windsor. some might say that he was happy that people got on with things and protests to attend. >> how relevant is the royal family? >> incredibly relevant. the starting point has to be the monarch doesn't have real power. that the power resides with the democratically elected government and the prime

minister, but our moniker is still our head of state and that provides national cohesion even at the most divisive moments otherwise in our politics, and i think it's very important and it needs to always modernize and prince philip was a significant driving force in that in the '50s and '60s and it was now accountable and always has to be and justified its existence and no doubt there will need to be another step forward with accountability and provided that happens, i think overwhelmingly, the british people welcomed having a moniker as head of state with no power and the democratically elected head of government has the power. >> william and harry and their wives, and without harry in the uk any longer, with him leaving royal duties, leaving royal life

and moving to california, does that make it more difficult for the younger generations to buy into the institution? >> i'm not sure. i think it's both nice that prince harry and meghan do have fans. while should have criticized them for getting up and leave, there are many people who have said why should they tolerate the racist and the reports and the british tabloids and why should they be followed everywhere they go and have their every move scrutinized? i think there are some people that actually think, harry was born into this family. he didn't ask to be born into the royal family. he wants to live an ordinary life and i think there are many people that think well done, son. you got out there, you've done your own thing and many people see diana in harry in that he is a bit of a rebel and he doesn't always follow the rules and he can afford not to because he's not heir to the throne or next in line. there are many people

championing him and wishing him luck as he builds his life withing in meghan and archie. >> i know the younger generations of royals they value their privacy given that they've grown up in the spotlight and have had so much of their life publicly broadcast and that's part of the reason why harry and meghan said they left the uk because of the lack of privacy that they had. the intrusion from the british press. what do the next decades look like for this younger generation of royals balancing a private life and a public life? >> well, i mean, it remains to be seen, of course, if there is a further slimming down of the royal family. that has been talked about over the last five to ten years anyway, regardless of the challenging events over the last six months or so, when there is a more precise and focused line of royals that do get access to taxpayer support and maybe those outside of that have more freedom to embrace what very

understandably as jennifer was saying harry and meghan wished to do and to prove themselves on their own right and that is a move that can only be commended, the significant bumps in the road on the execution of it. >> i do think the most important point to note, you asked about the younger royals is her majesty the queen, despite this enormous blow she suffered, remains the sovereign and that will be until the day she dies and hopefully many years, decades from now. >> if we look at her mother, 102 years old is when the queen mother died. thank you so much. our coverage continues on msnbc. a live report from outside of buckingham palace and some final thoughts from our entire team. ♪♪ ♪♪ good morning, mr. sun.

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♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ welcome back to our continuing coverage of the funeral of prince philip. joining us now from buckingham palace is nbc news foreign correspondent molly hunter. molly, i'm wondering what the reaction has been out there. we just got news of a tweet from

princess diana's brother charles, charles spencer, goodness, what a stunningly moving ceremony. >> reporter: and it was, of course, as everyone is talking about. we saw the other tweet, katie, that just came in was a tweet from prime minister boris johnson just showing the prime minister outside taking in that moment of silence. we have been watching out here buckingham palace to see if maybe crowds would come. we've seen those flowers out at windsor castle all week even though the palace said to stay away who wanted to come out. we've been talking about comparisons with diana's funeral and we're in the middle of a pandemic and you couldn't possibly have that many people, but the flowers laid outside after diana's funeral. the royal family has reacted differently this time, has learned from their silence following diana's funeral and we got unbelievable thoughtful

statements from the royal family and while there were no eulogies, we did get the coordinated statements from the brothers and prince william and prince harry, and i want to remind the viewers of the personal language. prince philip he said i feel lucky and he talks about his sense of adventure and his mischievous sense of humor. prince harry, he was authentically himself and he could hold the attention of any room due to his charm. he was my grandpa, legend at the barbecue and cheeky until the end. we were hoping that there would be personal eulogies, we did get a lot of those earlier this week, katie. >> cheeky to the end. i think that would be an understatement. molly hunter, thank you very much. let's bring in victoria, and

joining us is tim ewart, msnbc commentator and msnbc royal commentator. there's an interesting story that i read yesterday, daisy, about prince philip's shoes, kind of lending to the unfussiness of the man and also the sentimentality. it said that he once told a friend that he has been wearing the same shoes to royal engagements since he married queen elizabeth. the same, exact shoes that he has been re-soling for decades now. >> yeah. he told this story to a gentleman called lord bilamoria who is the head of the british chambers of commerce, if you like. they were on a visit together, i believe it was to a mosque and so they had to take their shoes off and after the event carol bilamoria and prince philip were sitting down both putting their shoes back on again and the comment was passed and prince

philip said these are my wedding shoes. this is only a few months ago and these shoes were 70 years old. it tells you a lot about prince philip. these little nuggets and these stories that one that he was quite frugal. if you think about that his background, yes, he was born a prince and died a prince, and he was nicknamed the pauper prince when he first came on the scene in the uk. he was looked down upon by many members of the establishment because he didn't have any money. he had to leave in exile, as we all know, as a young child from corfu, wealthy friends of his parents pay his school fees and his parents didn't do that and when he ended up at dartmouth that he had nothing to his name that he barely had clothes or

shoes so i think that he wore the same shoes and looked after them as any good naval officer did do, constantly shining them, did tell you something about his attitude to chattels, to belongings and his background. he was not a wealthy man. >> it is really interesting, and as i was doing my reading leading up to this, learning more about prince philip, that was one of the stories that certainly stuck out to me. we all have a favorite pair of shoes that we do wish we could re-sole over and over and over again. tim, another question that i have about the future of the -- of the monarchy and of the institution is about buckingham approximately as where you are standing outside of the building. the queen and prince philip had moved to windsor to spend more time together during the pandemic. it's reported that they appreciated the time that they could spend together because of everything being scaled down. normally they would not have gotten that time and there was

talk whether buckingham palace is going to be an official royal residence or become something more of a ceremonial space. >> well, buckingham palace is head office of the firm, which is what we think of as the royal family. they call themselves the firm, it's not, i'm afraid, any longer home, when tourism re-starts in this country and crowds start to come back and see the changes of the guard. the chances of seeing the queen are pretty remote. she will not live here anymore. she will stay here on occasions if her duties require that, ceremonial occasions, she will go to barl moreon and buckingham palace is where the work is based and it is not really any

longer where the royal family live. that won't mean there still won't be changing the guards and on a royal occasion like this, it is still a symbol of british monarchy. >> we think that buckingham palace has been around forever, but it was first housing a queen was queen victoria back in 1837. so not quite as old as we might imagine it is. victoria, we will wrap up our coverage with you, and i wonder if you can give us final thoughts in the day and where prince philip will remain and where he will rejoin his beloved the queen hopefully many years from now. >> what stuck out for me was the emotion of the day. we are not used to seeing the royals in such an emotional state. they've lost their father, a grandfather, a husband and that's completely expected. prince charles in particular was very emotional and as was anne

who is also considered the stoic and stiff upper lip royals. you mentioned his final resting place. the coffin is now in the revolt. there are numerous monarchs down there including henry viii and george iii and it is not philip's final resting place. when the queen passes she will join the duke in george vi chapel alongside the queen mother and the princess' ashes. they are of that certain generation and that's the chapel full up at that point. there probably won't be further royals added to that chapel after ward and they will all be together for eternity. >> this is the end of an era for an institution and it is the end of a very long and very successful marriage. more than 70 years that prince philip and the queen were married. she called him my strength and

my stay. what a terribly difficult time this must for her. victoria howard, tim ewert and daisy mcandrew. thank you for joining me today. i'm katie turr. thank you for watching the coverage of prince philip the duke of edinburgh. stay with us my friend and colleague alex witt will be here with "alex witt ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ incomparable design makes it beautiful. state of the art technology, makes it brilliant. the visionary lexus nx. lease the 2021 nx 300 for $349 a month for 36 months.

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a very good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters in new york. we are approaching high noon in the east and 9:00 a.m. in the west. welcome to "alex witt" reports. >> the deadliest mass shooting the nation has seen since the start of the pandemic. >> today we are learning about the eight people who were killed at the fedex facility in indianapolis as president biden calls on congress to take action. >> this has to end. it's a national embarrassment. the folks who own guns they support the background checks. the majority of them believe we shouldn't be selling assault weapon. who in god's name needs a weapon that hold a hundred rounds or 40 rounds and it is wrong and i'm not going to give up