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While the palace has yet to announce who will be attending Prince Philip ’s funeral, three guests have been confirmed by journalist Robert Hardman. “I am pleased to report that the Duke’s sisters’ families, whom he loved dearly (and vice versa), will make up a tenth of the mourners on Saturday. Uninvited to his 1947 wedding, they’ll be there at the end as he wanted,” he tweeted on Wednesday.
According to Robert’s report in The Daily Mail, two of Philip’s “great-nephews and a cousin” will be in attendance at the funeral on Saturday. Bernhard, Hereditary Prince of Baden; Prince Donatus, Landgrave of Hesse; and Prince Philipp of Hohenlohe-Langenburg reportedly arrived in the UK last weekend and are isolating before the service.
“It really is an incredible honour and we are all extremely touched and privileged to be included on behalf of the wider family,” Prince Philipp, 51, said in a statement.
Philip is the grandson of the Duke of Edinburgh’s oldest sister Princess Margarita and Prince Bernhard, 50, is the grandson of the late royal’s second sister Theodora. Per the Daily Mail, Prince Donatus is the head of the House of Hesse, which Prince Philip’s sisters Cecile and Sophie married into.
According to Robert, Queen Elizabeth ’s husband “wanted his ‘blood’ family — the network of German nieces, nephews and cousins to whom he was devoted — to be properly represented and included in his funeral arrangements.”
Under the UK’s current COVID-19 restrictions, funerals can be attended by a maximum of 30 people. Prince Philip’s funeral is taking place Saturday, April 17, at St George’s Chapel, Windsor. The palace has said that the “plans for the funeral are in line with The Duke of Edinburgh’s own personal wishes, and the occasion will recognise and celebrate The Duke’s life and his more than 70 years of service to The Queen, the UK and the Commonwealth.”