Last week, it was announced that Prince William, Prince Harry, King Charles, Prince Edward, Princess Anne and Prince Andrew would walk behind the Queen's coffin as it travelled in procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall for lying in state. The omission of the Queen's grandchildren; Kate and William’s children, George, Charlotte and Louis, and Harry and Meghan’s children, Lilibet and Archie, caused speculation that the young royals wouldn't take a prominent role in national mourning rituals.
Yet, last night it was understood that nine-year-old Prince George and seven-year-old Princess Charlotte would join their mum Kate, and the Queen consort, Camilla, in a car to Westminster Abbey before joining the Queen's final procession at Westminster today.
Why Isn't Prince Louis At The Queen's Funeral?
According to reports, Charlotte and George's role in the funeral was a 'collective family decision', which William and Kate took much thought over before deciding their two eldest children are 'up to it.' But many people are still wondering where Kate and William's youngest child is, and Google searches for 'where is Prince Louis?' have leapt up as the service continues.
According to reports, four-year-old Prince Louis is considered by his parents as still too young to play a role in the sombre ceremony. Sources have also told reporters that Kate believes Louis is struggling to fully comprehend the Queen's death: 'The younger one is now asking questions like, 'Do you think we can still play these games when we go to Balmoral,' and things like that, because she's not going to be there?"' they said.
Of course, every family has a different approach to how involved they allow their young children to be in the mourning process. Still, the decision to include George and Charlotte may come as a surprise to some, after Prince Harry and Prince William famously walked behind their own mother’s funeral when Princess Dianadied in 1997.
As adults, both Prince William and Prince Harry (whose children are not known to have a role in the Queen's funeral) have both admitted walking behind their mother’s coffin was one of the most difficult moments of their entire lives. ‘It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, that walk,’ William said in the documentary Diana, 7 Days. ‘It felt like she was almost walking along beside us to get us through it,’ he remembered.
‘People were screaming, people were crying, people’s hands were wet because of the tears they’d just wiped away from their face before shaking my hand,’ added Harry.
‘It was so unusual for people to see young boys like that not crying when everybody else was crying,’ he continued. ‘What we were doing was being asked of us was verging on normal then, but now…Looking at us then, we must have been in just this state of shock.’
‘We didn’t really talk about it that much,’ William admitted of their public mourning. ‘It was “Right, here we go again. But walking back in behind closed doors, there was a lot of hunkering down going on, just trying to survive and get through it.’