The life of The Duke of Edinburgh celebrated at Service of Thanksgivng

Members of the Royal Family celebrated the life and work of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey on Tuesday 29th March 2022. In recognition of the proud association between His Royal Highness and the Royal Southern Yacht Club, dating back over 70 years, Jane and I were honoured to represent our club and attend this uplifting and truly memorable service. We arrived early, not wanting to miss a moment of this special occasion, and were greeted by an honour guard of military cadets & Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award holders. We were privileged to have been allocated seats in the North Transept, directly opposite the Royal Family and seated with senior military figures & family friends. While we waited for everyone to arrive we were treated to wonderful music played by the organist from the abbey and the Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines. The day was chosen to echo March 29th 1941, the date he was mentioned in dispatches for his service in the Second World War; earlier that month he had been involved in the Battle of Matapan aboard HMS Valiant against the Italian navy off the coast of Greece. The rousing fanfare from liveried trumpeters provided an impressive opening for the service. This was a service which celebrated the Duke’s gifts of character, humour and devotion to duty. We remember our own ‘celebration of a life well lived’ which we held at the club last June where we shared many anecdotes from happy times with HRH. Highlights for us included a tribute from the Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle, who said: ‘His was a discipline and character that seized opportunity and overcame obstruction and difficulty. We recall, with affection and respect, the sustained offering of a long life lived fully.’ Westminster Abbey, that great theatre of royal occasion, looked glorious and the service was conducted with the precision & polish of the very best of all royal occasions. The choirs were magnificent, the organists sublime and the band of the Royal Marines perfect, with wonderful sounds reverberating through the Abbey. The hymns were his favourites (my personal favourite was ‘He who would valiant be’) and the whole congregation joined in with full voice. The closing National Anthem for HRH The Queen was deeply moving and a fitting end to a marvellous Service of Thanksgiving.