In April, the world was rocked by Prince Philip’s death just two months before he turned 100.
Due to British COVID regulations at the time, the state funeral was attended by just 30 guests but despite being in mourning for her husband, the Queen made sure to think of others.
In a televised interview with ITV News, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby revealed the heartwarming gesture the Queen made at St George’s Chapel.
“For me, like so much that I see with Her Majesty, it’s her personal example,” he said.
“I know that after the service she was meant to go and rest, she’s in her nineties. But she saw some distant cousins who had come from a long way away so before she went to rest, she insisted on going to talk to them, to make them feel welcome.”
Due to COVID regulations, the Queen was forced to sit alone during Prince Philip’s funeral service.
(Image: Getty)The Archbishop of Canterbury was then moved to tears as he spoke warmly of the 95-year-old monarch.
“This is a person whose whole life says, and it’s such a message for us in this crisis, ‘It’s not about me, it’s about others.’
“It was a very emotional moment, it still is because I look at that and think ‘What an extraordinary gift Her Majesty is to this country and to this world’ particularly at times of crisis,” he added before remarking on her humour, generosity and unselfishness.
Prince Philip and the Queen were married for a remarkable 73 years before his passing.
“I look at that and think ‘What an extraordinary gift Her Majesty is to this country and to this world’ particularly at times of crisis.”
(ITV)2021 marks the Queen’s first Christmas without Prince Philip by her side.
The monarch will spend the festive season at Windsor, as she did the previous year, due to growing COVID concerns in the UK, as a health precaution.
A royal source has said that members of her family will visit over the Christmas period though none of the other senior royals’ plans have been confirmed by the palace.
Aside from the loss of Prince Philip, 2021 has been a momentous year for the Queen.
The monarch welcomed four more great-grandchildren this year – in February Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank’s son August, Zara and Mike Tindall’s son Lucas, Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex’s daughter Lilibet and Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi’s daughter, Sienna.
