This Photo Of The Queen At Philip’s Funeral Is Breaking Hearts

Queen Elizabeth sat alone at the funeral of her beloved husband Prince Philip due to social distancing restrictions set forth due to the coronavirus pandemic during a religious ceremony at St. George's Chapel.

The sight of the monarch who was married to the Duke of Edinburgh for 73 years, seated alone as she mourned the passing of her husband, broke the hearts of Twitter users, whose hearts felt sympathy for her majesty as she faces ruling the Commonwealth alone for the first time in almost 70 years. She was dressed entirely in black and had her head bowed in prayer throughout the ceremony. She wore a black mask across her face. Wrote one Twitter user,

"Seeing the Queen sat alone is a deeply upsetting sight, my heart goes out to her, but also to the many thousands of families who've also had to grieve lost loved ones during the pandemic I wouldn't wish that experience on anybody."

A second Twitter user commented,

"What an unbelievably sad image. Never would anyone have imagined The Queen would have had to say her final goodbye to her beloved husband this way."

The Queen and Prince Philip's son, Prince Charles, sat opposite his mother, alongside his wife Camilla Parker-Bowles. Prince Andrew sat on the Queen's left. Prince William and his wife Kate sat directly opposite from Prince Harry, also seated alone, who attended the funeral without his wife Meghan Markle, who was not allowed to travel as she is in the later stages of her second pregnancy. They all sat in COVID bubbles with members of their immediate family.

The monarch's COVID bubble was her late husband and their household staff at Windsor, according to Time. Their staff were not present for the somber ceremony. Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury said:

"She's the queen, she will behave with the extraordinary dignity and extraordinary courage that she always does. And at the same time, she is saying farewell to someone to who she was married for 73 years."

Royal biographer Ingrid Seward said in a statement via Twitter,

"Today's funeral of The Duke of Edinburgh was exactly how he wanted it. No fuss, no Pomp and Circumstance. The only thing he wouldn't have wanted was The Queen having to sit alone. Although she would've been happy doing that knowing he was able to have the funeral he wanted."

Just 30 mourners were allowed to attend the service at St. George's on the grounds of Windsor Castle where Queen Elizabeth and her late husband lived together throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Other royals who were in attendance at the service sat together in family bubbles. Instead of the 800 mourners who were included in Philip's initial plans for his funeral, his wife, the couple's four children including Charles, Andrew, Anne, and Edward, and the couple's eight adult grandchildren mourned the Duke of Edinburgh.

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