Late Queen’s grandson reflects on ‘saddest moment of all’ and how he couldn’t help

Peter Phillips, the son of Princess Anne, has spoken out on how he wished to comfort his late grandmother at her husband’s funeral, but was unable to due to Covid restrictions

Peter Phillips has spoken about his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, in a new documentary(Image: BBC)

The late Queen’s grandson has opened up on not being able to comfort his grandmother at the funeral of Prince Philip in 2021, due to strict Covid distancing restrictions.

Peter Philips spoke candidly about his late grandmother in a new documentary to mark Queen Elizabeth’s centenary, and reflected on the iconic image of the Queen sitting alone at her late husband’s funeral in Windsor.

Prince Philip died in April 2021 and was laid to rest in St George’s Chapel just days later, with a limited number of guests allowed to attend due to the pandemic.

Government guidelines in place at the time stipulated that funerals should have no more than 30 mourners attending. They also had to be spaced out from anyone not in their household, leaving the late Queen to sit by alone in the pew.

The late Queen pictured alone, due to Covid restrictions, at Prince Philip’s funeral (Image: Getty Images)

The Prince and Princess of Wales, King Charles and other key royals were in attendance, but the late Queen sat solemnly by herself during the service, as she wore a face mask and bowed her head to her late husband.

In the new BBC documentary titled Queen Elizabeth II: Her Story, Our Century, Peter Philips, who is the son of Princess Anne, reflected on the heartbreaking moment. He said: “All you wanted to do was give her a hug and you couldn’t do it.”

Peter walked in the procession at Philip’s funeral in between Prince William and Prince Harry, alongside his mother, Princess Anne, Sir Timothy Laurence, Prince Edward, King Charles and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

Peter Phillips joined the Royal Family for the late Prince Philip’s funeral procession(Image: WireImage)

Speaking in the documentary, presenter Kirsty Young described the photographs of Her Majesty mourning alone as “one of the most moving images of her entire reign”. She added: “It brought the nation closer to the Queen because they thought ‘there she is going through what so many of us are going through’.”

Dame Helen Mirren, who was included in the documentary for her portrayal of the late monarch in the 2006 film titled The Queen. described the poignant image as “the saddest moment of all”.

Peter Philips the eldest of the late Queen’s grandchildren and over the years, he’s been widely reported to be her ‘favourite grandson’. Ahead of celebrations for her 90th birthday in 2016, Peter shared that he’d always been “very close” with Queen Elizabeth and they spoke often, calling her an “inspirational person throughout [his life]”.

Peter was widely reported to be the late Queen’s ‘favourite grandson’ (Image: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)

In 2024 he told Sky News Australia how “lucky” he was to be in Scotland before she passed away in 2022 and described how the royals said their goodbyes privately.

“I was lucky to be in Scotland before she passed and actually having those few days with her, just in Scotland, just as a family, before she left Balmoral – that was really nice,” he said. “Looking back on it, it’s still quite emotional, that part was a proper family moment.”

Peter added: “In many ways we’d had our quiet moment with her, we’d said our goodbyes, so whilst it still wasn’t particularly easy, it was easier to be able to share the public’s grief for her.”