The Princess of Wales spoke for the nation yesterday as she told wellwishers marking the first anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s passing: “We all have wonderful memories of her. We have to hold on to them.”
Her poignant words came as she and Prince William attended a service of commemoration at St Davids Cathedral in Wales, laying a bouquet of white roses in front of a portrait of the late monarch – a beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother – before bowing their heads in quiet contemplation.
The moving solemnity of the occasion was in stark contrast to Prince Harry, who was photographed by a tourist as he secretly visited his grandmother’s grave at St George’s Chapel in Windsor yesterday morning, alone, before flying out of the country at lunchtime.
In a sign of how deep the family rift now runs, he left without seeing his estranged brother, who is likely to have been less than half a mile away at his Adelaide Cottage home on the Windsor estate around the time he visited, before taking a helicopter to Wales. Nor did he take the time to see his father in Scotland.
Dressed casually – and looking slightly dishevelled – in an open-necked shirt and trousers, the 38-year-old slipped through a side door and was taken to Queen Elizabeth’s final resting place by a member of chapel staff as his bodyguard waited by a Range Rover parked outside.
He was whisked straight to Heathrow Airport afterwards, where he boarded a lunchtime flight to Dusseldorf to attend the Invictus Games.
he will spend the week in a five-star hotel, where he will be joined by his wife, Meghan, who chose not to visit the UK at all. Buckingham Palace would not comment on Harry but officials seemed at pains to suggest the visit was his own initiative.
One said a few Royal Family members had “found individual ways to pay their respects separately at the chapel this morning”.
The Mail understands that this included the Duke of York and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, who later attended a special evensong marking King Charles’s accession to the throne.
The Queen was privately interred in the King George VI Memorial Chapel, built for her late father, after the public elements of her funeral last year had concluded.
She lies next to her beloved husband, Prince Philip, who died in 2021, as well as her parents, King George and Queen Elizabeth, and the ashes of her sister, Princess Margaret.
Four floral tributes lay on Queen Elizabeth’s tombstone yesterday, described as “family flowers”.
The largest was a huge display in an urn at the back of the chapel, brought by the Queen’s youngest son Prince Edward, with another from Andrew.
Asked which was from Prince Harry, a staff member said: “One of them will be. I hope.” In Wales, William and Kate were given a rapturous welcome by crowds, who stood for hours in the heat to see them and cheered.
The princess was elegant in a burgundy dresscoat by Eponine and hat by Sahar Millinery, a nice touch given that designer Sahar Freemantle was a scholar with the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust.
She and William sat through a poignant service laced with reminders including a Henry Purcell anthem played during the Queen’s funeral.
The Very Reverend Dr Sarah Rowland Jones, Dean of St Davids, said afterwards: “In many ways, our job today was to give them the space for their remembering.”
Kate chatted with members of the 20-strong congregation about how she remembered the Queen with great affection, telling flying instructor Patricia Mawuli Porter: “We all have wonderful memories of her, we have to hold on to them, cherish them.”
Mrs Porter, 35, from Haverfordwest, said afterwards: “It was lovely to speak to the princess on a personal basis, she was like an old friend, she can chat to anyone.”
After a seemingly quick change into more casual clothes, the Prince and Princess of Wales yesterday visited the Car-Y-Mor seaweed farm at St Davids, then met members of the St Davids Lifeboat Station crew.
Kate was presented with a posy by Isla Evans-Kohler, four, the daughter of deputy coxswain Judd Kohler and crew member Ellen Evans.
She asked Isla: “Have you been on the lifeboat?” The little girl shook her head and her mother explained she had been on the boat but not out on the water