Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, visited the Marlborough House Gardens this morning to view the countless messages of condolences left by members of the public following Prince Philip’s death.
The Great British public has been leaving flowers, commemorative messages, tributes, and even pieces of craft and artwork to honor the memory of the Duke of Edinburgh, who died last Friday, aged 99.
The flowers and messages had originally been left outside of Buckingham Palace. Still, the authorities have been quickly moving them to Marlborough House in the hope of discouraging large crowds from gathering in central London in front of the Palace.
The current heir to the throne, Prince Charles, appeared to be quite emotional as he read the various messages. Camilla reportedly wiped away tears on at least one occasion.
Among the tributes were a bench decorated with handmade cards and artwork, and a toy Land Rover, which was the Duke’s favorite car.
The official Twitter account of the Prince of Wales posted a couple of photos of the occasion this morning. The first one showed the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall examining the many flowers that had been left.
And the second picture showed a selection of the messages left behind.
One such message read: “Prince Philip, a brave and heroic man, gone but not forgotten, we love you.” And a second read: “To our unsung hero Prince Philip, 65 years of service, 73 years of marriage to our beloved Queen, thank you and RIP, love Dan.”
Prince Charles posted never before seen photo of him and his dad
This week, the Royal Family members have been posting to social media never before seen photographs of themselves with Prince Philip, and Charles has been no different.
Yesterday, his account put up an old black and white photo of him and his dad on horseback when Charles was a boy, along with a more modern pic of the Duke and Duchess standing with a grinning Prince Philip. The pics were captioned: “Remembering The Duke of Edinburgh as a much-loved Father and Father-in-Law.”
Prince Charles recorded emotional tribute to Prince Philip
At the weekend, Prince Charles recorded a message for the public to pay tribute to his father. He said: “As you can imagine, my family and I miss my father enormously. He was a much loved and appreciated figure… I can imagine he would be so deeply touched by the number of other people here and elsewhere around the world.”
An emotional Charles continued: “My dear Papa was a very special person who I think above all else would have been amazed by the reaction and the touching things that have been said about him… It will sustain us in this particular loss and at this particularly sad time.”
Prince Philip will be laid to rest at a ceremonial funeral on Saturday, April 17, at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle. The ceremony will be televised, but members of the public will not attend.