Princes Harry and William walked behind their grandmother’s coffin today with their father King Charles, echoing powerful images from 25 years ago.
All three were part of Wednesday’s procession escorting the coffin from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, where the Queen will lie-in-state until her funeral on Monday, September 19.
The royals also famously walked together in a line behind Princess Diana’s coffin on September 6, 1997, after she was killed in a car crash at the end of August.
Harry was just 12 and William 15 at the time of their mother’s funeral, making the pictures particularly harrowing.
Flanked by Diana’s ex-husband, then Prince Charles, her brother Earl Spencer and the late Prince Philip, the two young boys walked in the procession throughout London for the haunting occasion.
The Duke of Sussex has spoken out about that experience since, including in an interview with Newsweek back in 2017.
“My mother had just died, and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television,” he said.
“I don’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances.
“I don’t think it would happen today.”
This time, walking behind the Queen’s coffin, the atmosphere was inevitably a little different.
Harry and William are now men in the thirties, Charles is now King. The three were also accompanied by Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.
