Prince Andrew has left the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh in the back of his new £ 220,000 race green Bentley, which he has fitted with personalized number plates.
The 61-year-old Duke of York was sitting in the back of the 200 km / h Bentley Flying Spur – which was blue when it was first delivered in September before being spray-painted.
The car, with its personalized license plate, is pictured from Windsor Castle on its way to the nearby Royal Lodge, the house Andrew shares with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, 61.
Just hours earlier, Prince Andrew was walking behind his father’s coffin, slowly being carried to St George’s Chapel in Windsor, on the back of a specially made Land Rover hearse.
Inside the chapel, Andrew sat closest to the queen – with the family still separated by countless empty chairs due to social rules.
The duke’s appearance during the funeral comes 18 months after he resigned from Royal duties after his disastrous Newsnight interview about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Prince Andrew has left Prince Philip’s funeral in a brand new £ 220,000 racer-green Bentley. The Duke of York (61) was sitting in the back of the 200 km / h Bentley Flying Spur (pictured at the funeral) – which was blue when it was first delivered in September before being spray-painted
Just hours earlier, Prince Andrew had solemnly walked behind his father’s coffin as it was slowly carried to St George’s Chapel in Windsor.
Inside the chapel, Andrew sat closest to the queen – with the family still separated by countless empty chairs due to social rules
The new Bentley joins a fleet of luxury cars belonging to Andrew – including a £ 115,000 petrol hybrid Range Rover, reports The Sun.
Prince Andrew was seen in the back of the car, replacing an old Bentley owned by the Duke.
It was revealed this week that Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson paid regular visits to visit the Queen after Prince Philip’s death.
The queen sat on her own during the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh on Saturday in tearful images that shocked the country.
However, after Philip’s death, the royals rushed to her side, led by Andrew and his ex-wife with sources saying that Prince Edward and Sophie Wessex also spent ‘a lot of time’ supporting her.
As the queen comes to life again without her 73-year-old husband, she will also be staying at Windsor Castle with a ‘bubble’ of 22 royal housekeepers, including some of her closest assistants.
It was announced today that the Windsor ‘bubble’ is the only group to join its 95th birthday on Wednesday – its first without Philip in seven decades.
The plans to celebrate the day with a new portrait of her are postponed because she is still in the official period of royal mourning over her beloved husband.
The conspicuous absence of Prince Philip would be impossible to ignore and the run-up to a joyous day would be overshadowed by speculations about the great break in her family.
While spectators rejoiced over the face of William and Harry in a conversation as they left their grandfather’s funeral on Saturday, according to sources, a meaningful reconciliation between the brothers is still a long way off.
Harry said yesterday he was flying back to Los Angeles very soon after being seen for the first time in more than a year with his brother and sister-in-law Kate.
It leaves little time to heal open wounds, and it is not known if the 36-year-old saw his father Prince Charles outside of the emotional proceedings of Saturday.
Prince Andrew drives his £ 115,000 Range Rover on Windsor Estate in December 2020
The queen bowed her head as she sat alone in St George’s Chapel on Saturday.
The Queen’s Bentley followed the coffin from the castle to the church behind the Land Rover and her family
Kate apparently broke the ice outside St George’s Chapel by talking to Harry, with whom she was once so close.
When the family group walks away from the ceremony – an improvised decision, because a fleet of state cars has been built for the mourners – she hangs the brothers back a bit, driven by Harry and Meghan’s decisive decision to end the royal service and move to the USA, could talk.
The body language was quiet, and the exchange was apparently just a polite chat, but it was a start.
Senior royals, including the Queen, Charles, William and Harry, spent more than an hour together in the castle before leaving separately by 6pm.
They were unlikely to have serious discussions, but it’s been the most time they have spent together as a family since Harry and Meghan left the UK more than a year ago.
However, royal sources warned last night that ‘one swallow does not make a summer’ and the rift between the two men, especially after the series of hurtful and extremely damaging allegations made by the Sussexes in their Oprah interview with Oprah last month, deep remained.
One insider went so far as to suggest that the lack of brothers could take years to heal, if ever.
And they stressed that there was still great anger in the royal family and the household in general over the accusations the couple had leveled against them – especially the allegations of racism and that Meghan was left suicidal due to lack of support.