Queen Elizabeth II delegated one of her most important public duties to Prince Charles on Tuesday, underscoring the increasingly central role the heir to the crown is taking as his mother prepares to celebrate 70 years on the throne.

Charles presided over the state opening of Parliament and delivered the Queen’s Speech laying out the government’s legislative program. The event is a symbol of the monarch’s constitutional role as head of state and is accompanied by centuries of tradition designed to demonstrate the strength of Britain’s political institutions.

The queen’s decision to delegate her role to Charles is likely to be seen by the public as evidence that a transition is underway, with the 96-year-old monarch remaining on the throne but turning over more responsibilities to her eldest son.

The choreography of the day emphasized a queen who was absent and yet still present. Her throne had been removed, but in its place the Imperial State Crown sat propped on a pillow. Charles, wearing the uniform of an admiral of the fleet, glittered in gold braid rather than sweeping ermine robes.

He was flanked by his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, and his son, Prince William. It was, in essence, all about the dynasty.

“I think the emphasis here was clearly on continuity, a symbolic presence of Elizabeth II, if not a physical presence, and also what the future will likely look like,” said Ed Owens, a royal historian and author of “The Family Firm: Monarchy, Mass Media and the British Public 1932-1953.″

What is the Queen's Speech?

The speech is delivered during the formal opening of each session of Parliament and lays out the government’s legislative program.

It is written by the elected government, currently led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and is read out to a joint meeting of the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

The monarch traditionally arrives for the event in a horse-drawn carriage, sits on the Sovereign’s Throne in the House of Lords and wears the Imperial State Crown.

But Charles, 73, arrived by car and sat not on the sovereign’s throne, which had been removed, but on the consort’s throne, which had been used by his late father, Prince Philip. In the place where the queen’s throne normally is placed, the Imperial State Crown was placed on a velvet cushion.

Charles delivered the speech in the third person, referring to “Her Majesty’s Government.”

Why did Elizabeth decide to skip the speech?

Buckingham Palace didn’t elaborate on what it called “episodic mobility problems,″ but the queen has had difficulty moving around in recent months. She has been seen using a cane on some occasions and Prince Andrew last month escorted her into Westminster Abbey for the memorial service for Prince Philip.

The event involves more than just reading the speech. There is a long walk to the House of Lords, stairs to the throne, and in past years the need to climb in and out of the carriage. All of these obstacles might offer challenges for the sovereign.

Elizabeth, who only recently recovered from a bout of COVID-19, is also preparing for four days of festivities celebrating her Platinum Jubilee that are scheduled for June 2-5.

Has the queen ever missed the speech before?

Yes. In 1959, when she was in the late stages of pregnancy with Prince Andrew, and again in 1963 before the birth of Prince Edward.

On both of those occasions, Parliament was opened by a royal commission, with the speech delivered by the presiding member.

So what's different this time?

This year the queen formally asked Prince Charles to deliver the speech under rules that allow her to delegate some of her duties to senior members of the royal family who are considered “counselors of state.” Counselors of state are required to act in pairs, so Charles was accompanied by his eldest son, Prince William.

Because the duties had been delegated to Charles, there was less disruption of the ceremonial aspects of the day.

The public should be able to take comfort from the continuity that Charles’ appearance represents, said Robert Hazell, a professor of government and the constitution at University College London.

“Yes, we are, in effect, preparing for a transition,″ he told The Associated Press. “The queen is in her mid-90s. She won’t live forever. We are nearing the last years of her reign, and during those last years, if she is no longer capable of putting in public appearances, Prince Charles can deputize on her behalf.”

LONDON —

In retrospect, it seems as if she was preparing us all along.

Whether it was due to age, ill health or a sense that the end was near, Queen Elizabeth II spent much of the last two years tying up loose ends, trying to make sure the family firm would keep ticking along after her death.

The transition began slowly, with the queen turning over more public duties to her son and heir, now King Charles III, as she entered her twilight years. But it moved into overdrive in 2022 as Elizabeth celebrated 70 years on the throne. First she expressed her wish that Charles' wife, Camilla, be known as queen consort after her death, and then the future king took center stage during four days of Platinum Jubilee festivities.

"Elizabeth II was preparing the ground for the succession,'' historian Ed Owens said. "We saw a lot more of Charles in the last 10 years stepping in for his mother in a number of key situations at key public events. And that, I think, was partly intentional in that the monarch … wanted her son to sort of gravitate naturally into the limelight, to make this seem as best as possible as though it was a seamless transition.''

Charles' increased role began gradually when the queen began cutting back on long-haul flights, resulting in the then Prince of Wales taking her place at a 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Sri Lanka.

The queen became head of the Commonwealth, a grouping of 54 independent countries with links to the former British Empire, when she ascended the throne and championed its role in world affairs throughout her reign.

In 2018, Elizabeth expressed her "sincere wish" that Charles would follow her as head of the Commonwealth and its leaders agreed.

The previous year, Charles represented the queen at the annual Remembrance Day ceremony honoring the nation's war dead, laying the monarch's wreath at the foot of the Cenotaph in London. It was the first time the queen hadn't performed the solemn ritual, marked by columns of aging veterans marching past the monument, other than when she was pregnant or out of the country.

But what had been a subtle shift became more obvious after the coronavirus pandemic led Elizabeth to take refuge at Windsor Castle outside London and the death of her husband, Prince Philip, reminded the nation of the queen's mortality.

That was underscored by the image of Elizabeth, her face hidden behind a black mask, sitting alone in St. George's Chapel as she mourned the loss of the man who had been her "strength and stay" for over 73 years.

On the anniversary of her accession to the throne in February, the queen moved to end the long-running controversy over the status of Charles' wife.

Camilla has been a divisive figure in Britain because her long-term relationship with Charles was blamed for the breakdown of his first marriage to the widely beloved Princess Diana. The mother of Princes William and Harry died in a Paris car crash in 1997, five years after her messy split with Charles.

When Charles married Camilla in 2005, he made it known that he wanted his wife to become queen when he ascended the throne. Diana's fans objected, saying it would dishonor the princess.

But the public attitude toward Camilla, 75, has warmed in recent years as she took on roles at more than 100 charities, focusing on issues ranging from literacy to domestic violence. Her down-to-earth style and sense of humor have softened Charles' stuffy image and made him appear more relaxed.

When the queen weighed in on Feb. 6., she obliquely recognized that her reign would come to an end.

"When, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes king, I know you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support that you have given me," she said. "And it is my sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as queen consort as she continues her own loyal service."

Video: King Charles, Prince William greet mourners

Late last year, Elizabeth was seen using a walking stick for the first time, and in April she revealed that a bout with COVID-19 had left her feeling "very tired and exhausted."

In May, the queen delegated one of her most important public duties to Charles, asking him to preside over the state opening of Parliament and deliver the annual Queen's Speech laying out the government's legislative program.

The event is a symbol of the monarch's constitutional role as head of state and is accompanied by centuries of tradition designed to demonstrate the strength of Britain's political institutions.

When it came time for the Platinum Jubilee, the palace let it be known that the queen's ongoing "mobility issues" would limit her role.

Instead, Charles took center stage.

He donned full military uniform to review the troops during the queen's ceremonial birthday parade, sat in the position of honor at the front of St. Paul's Cathedral for a service celebrating her reign and led salutes to his mother at a gala concert, appearing with Camilla by his side.

After her death, Charles and Camilla were greeted warmly by crowds of mourners outside Buckingham Palace, with the new monarch shaking hands and chatting with well-wishers who broke into a chorus of "God Save the King."

The reaction, and Charles' first days in his new role, suggest that the public is, at least for now, on board, former BBC royal correspondent Michael Cole said this week outside the palace.

"Look at the thousands of people who have come here of their own accord,'' he said, waving a hand at the crowds. "They're not being bused in. They're not being ordered to be here. They're not being given little flags to wave. This is not North Korea. This is not a parade for Putin in Red Square. These people have come to express their respect for the dead queen and show, a very big word, affection."

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Follow AP's coverage of Queen Elizabeth II and other stories on the British monarch at https://apnews.com/hub/queen-elizabeth-ii

LONDON —

The United Kingdom's royal family turns the page on a new chapter Saturday with the coronation of King Charles III.

Watch live coverage of the coronation ceremony in the video player above.

Charles ascended the throne when his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died last year. The coronation is a religious ceremony that provides a more formal confirmation of his role as head of state and titular head of the Church of England.

Here is the latest on the coronation of King Charles III (all times eastern):

5:53 a.m.

Prince Harry has arrived at Westminster Abbey for his father’s coronation.

The Duke of Sussex was wearing a black three-piece set of tails and military medals on his chest.

His wife, Meghan, stayed behind in California with their young children.

Harry, who quit his official duties with the royal family over intense scrutiny from the British media, is not playing a role in the service.

The prince further alienated himself by publishing his explosive bestselling memoir, “Spare,” in which he spilled family secrets.

5:49 a.m.

King Charles III has arrived at Westminster Abbey to be crowned in a ceremony steeped in 1,000 years of tradition.

5:24 a.m.

King Charles III and Camilla, the queen consort, have started their short ride in the gilded Diamond Jubilee Coach from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey, where they will be anointed and crowned in a ceremony steeped in history.

They are being escorted by the Sovereign’s Escort, comprising of about 160 soldiers on horseback. The Household Cavalry Mounted Band is leading the military procession.

It’s a much smaller procession than the one planned for the return route from the abbey, when some 4,000 troops will feature in a spectacular display of pageantry.

The state coach Charles and Camilla are traveling in was created in 2012 to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s 60th year on the throne. The procession will take about half an hour.

5:17 a.m.

First Lady Jill Biden arrived at the coronation ceremony for King Charles III.

Biden wore periwinkle blue Ralph Lauren skirt suit accessorized with a coordinating hair bow and was accompanied by her granddaughter Finnegan Biden.

Inside the Abbey, the pair were seated next to Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska in an icy blue dress and coat pairing.

Video below: Jill Biden arrives at coronation

4:46 a.m.

Military bands are marching down central London streets and hundreds of servicemen and servicewomen are beginning to take their positions along the procession route ahead of King Charles III’s coronation.

Soldiers in distinctive red tunics and bearskin hats are lining the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace, where hundreds of royal fans have braved wet weather and gathered early to secure the best viewing spot.

The Royal Navy and Royal Marines are stationed at nearby Admiralty Arch, and the Royal Air Force are lining the route to Westminster Abbey.

Other soldiers forming the Sovereign’s Escort will escort Charles and Camilla, the queen consort, from the palace to Westminster Abbey around 10:20 a.m.

4:35 a.m.

King Charles III and Camilla, the queen consort, have arrived in a motorcade at Buckingham Palace ahead of their coronation.

Loud cheers erupted among the crowds of wellwishers lining the Mall, the grand avenue leading to the palace, as the line of cars drove by. Charles and Camilla were seen waving at the crowds from within their Bentley.

The couple are expected to depart from the palace in the Diamond Jubilee state coach later this morning to Westminster Abbey, where they will be crowned.

Meanwhile at the abbey, many politicians and celebrities have arrived and taken their seats. Musicians have started warming up ahead of the ceremony, which is due to begin at 11 a.m. local time.

4:27 a.m.

Crowds are growing outside Buckingham Palace and guests are arriving at Westminster Abbey for the coronation of King Charles III.

People who camped overnight overnight for a view of the royals awoke to cloudy skies that gave way to sun and some light rain.

Fans carrying flags and clad in the colors of the Union Jack were arriving by train in London hours before the ceremony that begins when Charles and Camilla, queen consort, depart from the palace in a gilded horse-drawn carriage.

The royal couple will be chauffeured on the 1.3-mile (2-kilometer) route through central London to Westminster Abbey for the two-hour ceremony.

The church buzzed with excitement and was abloom with fragrant flowers and colorful hats. Invited guests streaming into the abbey including recognizable celebrities such as Judi Dench, Emma Thompson, Lionel Richie and Nick Cave, and others including judges in wigs, soldiers with gleaming medals attached to red tunics and members of the House of Lords in their red robes.

CNN contributed to this report.

The London apartment where Diana Spencer lived before she became the Princess of Wales has been commemorated with an official blue plaque.The plaque was posted on the Coleherne Court building on Old Brompton Street in Kensington on Sept. 29 following a successful campaign led by the London Assembly."Diana had, and still has, a very special place in the hearts of Londoners and we are thrilled to see her blue plaque formally placed as a monument to her work for others," said Andrew Boff, chair of the London Assembly, during the unveiling ceremony.The plaque reads: "Lady Diana Spencer, later Princess of Wales, lived here 1979-1981."The two years Diana spent in Flat 60, Coleherne Court, were formative ones. She purchased the apartment with money inherited from her great-grandmother. The price was £50,000 ($67,000).Diana moved to London at age 18 and worked as a nanny and at a kindergarten. She began dating Prince Charles, heir to the British throne in 1980, and they were engaged a year later.As her public profile grew, Coleherne Court was regularly besieged by photographers who hoped to capture pictures of the future princess. After Diana got engaged to Prince Charles, her mother had the apartment sold. It is still a private residence today."Lady Diana Spencer, later the Princess of Wales, is one of the most iconic figures in recent British history," said a statement issued by English Heritage, a charity that manages over 400 of England's historic buildings, monuments and sites."Her troubled marriage to Prince Charles and later relationships were the subject of fevered and intrusive press coverage, but she won a lasting reputation outside her personal life for her extensive charity and humanitarian work."The blue plaque is the second significant memorial to Diana unveiled in 2021, the year in which she would have turned 60. In July, her sons Prince William and Prince Harry jointly revealed a statue of their mother at the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace.These plaques are placed on buildings in England that are connected to important historical figures and are maintained by English Heritage. "Blue plaque spotting" is a popular hobby for sightseers and history buffs.The plaques acknowledge a range of politicians, artists, writers and other important historical figures, including Virginia Woolf, Winston Churchill and Freddie Mercury.Notable figures do not need to be British in order to be honored with a plaque. Foreigners who spent time living in the U.K., like Mahatma Gandhi and Emile Zola, have also been acknowledged.There are some 950 blue plaques in London alone.

LONDON —

The will of Prince Philip, the late husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, will be sealed and remain private for at least 90 years to preserve the monarch's dignity, a judge at London's High Court has ruled.

Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who had been married to the 95-year-old British monarch for more than seven decades, died at the age of 99 at his wife's Windsor Castle home on April 9.

In keeping with a convention dating back to 1910, Andrew McFarlane, the president of the court's Family Division, said he had agreed Philip's will should be sealed up "and that no copy of the will should be made for the record or kept on the court file."

Video above: Prince Harry will appear in television special about Prince Philip

He also ruled in favor of the request "to exclude the value of the estate from the grant of probate."

"The degree of publicity that publication would be likely to attract would be very extensive and wholly contrary to the aim of maintaining the dignity of the Sovereign," McFarlane said in a ruling published on Thursday.

He said the convention was that following the death of a senior royal, an application to seal the will was made to the Family Division president, with such hearings and judgments kept private.

However, he said "as is plain from this judgment" he considered it was a "necessary and proportionate intrusion into the private affairs of Her Majesty and the Royal Family to make public the fact that an application to seal the will of HRH The Prince Philip ... has been made and granted in private, and to explain the underlying reasons."

The judge said 90 years should pass from the granting of probate before the will should be unsealed in private before possible publication, a period he said was "proportionate and sufficient."

He said the first royal whose will was sealed was Prince Francis of Teck, who was the younger brother of George V's wife Queen Mary. He said he was the custodian of a safe containing more than 30 envelopes with the wills of dead royals. The most recent additions were made in 2002 following the deaths of Queen Elizabeth's mother, Elizabeth, and her sister Princess Margaret, he said.

LONDON —

Queen Elizabeth II marked the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks by offering her sympathies to the victims, survivors and families affected by the atrocity.

In a message to U.S. President Joe Biden, the British monarch remembered the "terrible attacks" on New York and Washington, D.C.

"My thoughts and prayers — and those of my family and the entire nation — remain with the victims, survivors and families affected, as well as the first responders and rescue workers called to duty,'' she said.

"My visit to the site of the World Trade Center in 2010 is held fast in my memory. It reminds me that as we honor those from many nations, faiths and backgrounds who lost their lives, we also pay tribute to the resilience and determination of the communities who joined together to rebuild.''

The ties between the two nations were marked with a special Changing of the Guard ceremony at Windsor Castle in which "The Star-Spangled Banner" was played. Hundreds gathered inside and outside the walls of the castle to watch.

Watch video above to see the performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner"

The U.S. national anthem had also been played at Buckingham Palace 20 years ago on Sept. 12, 2001, a mark of solidarity with the United States.

U.S. Ambassador Philip Reeker thanked the queen for the gesture.

"Speaking for the United States, we have no closer ally and no closer friend, in good times and in bad times, and we are very much reminded of that today ... through the enduring relationship between our two countries," he said.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also remembered the attacks, issuing a statement ahead of the anniversary saying that the terrorists had failed to "shake our belief in freedom and democracy."

"They failed to drive our nations apart, or cause us to abandon our values, or to live in permanent fear."

Sixty-seven British nationals were among the almost 3,000 people killed when hijacked planes crashed into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon in Washington and a field in Pennsylvania.

Buckingham Palace says Prince Philip has had a successful heart procedure in a London hospital.The palace says the 99-year-old Duke of Edinburgh, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, “underwent a successful procedure for a pre-existing heart condition at St Bartholomew’s Hospital.”It said he is expected to remain in the hospital for "treatment, rest and recuperation for a number of days.”Philip, 99, has been hospitalized since being admitted to King Edward VII’s Hospital in London on Feb. 16, where he was treated for an infection. On Monday he was transferred to a specialized cardiac care hospital, St. Bartholomew’s.

LONDON — Buckingham Palace says Prince Philip has had a successful heart procedure in a London hospital.

The palace says the 99-year-old Duke of Edinburgh, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, “underwent a successful procedure for a pre-existing heart condition at St Bartholomew’s Hospital.”

It said he is expected to remain in hospital for treatment, rest and recuperation for a number of days.”

Philip has been hospitalized since being admitted to King Edward VII’s Hospital in London on Feb. 16, where he was treated for an infection.

On Monday he was transferred to a specialized cardiac care hospital, St. Bartholomew’s.

Daughter-in-law Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, said Wednesday that Philip’s condition was “slightly improving.”

Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, the longtime husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, has died. He was 99.

The royal family made the announcement on Twitter Friday morning.

"It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh," the tweet said. "His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle.

His life spanned nearly a century of European history, starting with his birth as a member of the Greek royal family and ending as Britain’s longest serving consort during a turbulent reign in which the thousand-year-old monarchy was forced to reinvent itself for the 21st century.

He was known for his occasionally racist and sexist remarks — and for gamely fulfilling more than 20,000 royal engagements to boost British interests at home and abroad. He headed hundreds of charities, founded programs that helped British schoolchildren participate in challenging outdoor adventures, and played a prominent part in raising his four children, including his eldest son, Prince Charles, the heir to the throne.

Philip spent a month in hospital earlier this year before being released on March 16 to return to Windsor Castle.

Philip, who was given the title Duke of Edinburgh on his wedding day, saw his sole role as providing support for his wife, who began her reign as Britain retreated from empire and steered the monarchy through decades of declining social deference and U.K. power into a modern world where people demand intimacy from their icons.

In the 1970s, Michael Parker, an old navy friend and former private secretary of the prince, said of him: “He told me the first day he offered me my job, that his job — first, second and last — was never to let her down.”

The queen, a very private person not given to extravagant displays of affection, once called him “her rock” in public.

In private, Philip called his wife Lilibet; but he referred to her in conversation with others as “The Queen.”

Over the decades, Philip’s image changed from that of handsome, dashing athlete to arrogant and insensitive curmudgeon. In his later years, the image finally settled into that of droll and philosophical observer of the times, an elderly, craggy-faced man who maintained his military bearing despite ailments.

The popular Netflix series “The Crown” gave Philip a central role, with a slightly racy, swashbuckling image. He never commented on it in public, but the portrayal struck a chord with many Britons, including younger viewers who had only known him as an elderly man.

Philip’s position was a challenging one — there is no official role for the husband of a sovereign queen — and his life was marked by extraordinary contradictions between his public and private duties. He always walked three paces behind his wife in public, in a show of deference to the monarch, but he was the head of the family in private. Still, his son Charles, as heir to the throne, had a larger income, as well as access to the high-level government papers Philip was not permitted to see.

Philip often took a wry approach to his unusual place at the royal table.

“Constitutionally, I don’t exist,” said Philip, who in 2009 became the longest-serving consort in British history, surpassing Queen Charlotte, who married King George III in the 18th century.

He frequently struggled to find his place — a friction that would later be echoed in his grandson Prince Harry’s decision to give up royal duties.

“There was no precedent,” he said in a rare interview with the BBC to mark his 90th birthday. “If I asked somebody, ‘What do you expect me to do?’ they all looked blank.”

But having given up a promising naval career to become consort when Elizabeth became queen at age 25, Philip was not content to stay on the sidelines and enjoy a life of ease and wealth. He promoted British industry and science, espoused environmental preservation long before it became fashionable, and traveled widely and frequently in support of his many charities.

In those frequent public appearances, Philip developed a reputation for being impatient and demanding and was sometimes blunt to the point of rudeness.

Many Britons appreciated what they saw as his propensity to speak his mind, while others criticized behavior they labeled offensive and out of touch.

In 1995, for example, he asked a Scottish driving instructor, “How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?” Seven years later in Australia, when visiting Aboriginal people with the queen, he asked: “Do you still throw spears at each other?”

Many believe his propensity to speak his mind meant he provided needed, unvarnished advice to the queen.

“The way that he survived in the British monarchy system was to be his own man, and that was a source of support to the queen,” said royal historian Robert Lacey. “All her life she was surrounded by men who said, ‘yes ma’am’ and he was one man who always told her how it really was, or at least how he saw it.”

Lacey said at the time of the royal family’s difficult relations with Princess Diana after her marriage to Charles broke down, Philip spoke for the family with authority, showing that he did not automatically defer to the queen.

Philip’s relationship with Diana became complicated as her separation from Charles and their eventual divorce played out in a series of public battles that damaged the monarchy’s standing.

It was widely assumed that he was critical of Diana’s use of broadcast interviews, including one in which she accused Charles of infidelity. But letters between Philip and Diana released after her death showed that the older man was at times supportive of his daughter-in-law.

After Diana’s death in a car crash in Paris in 1997, Philip had to endure allegations by former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed that he had plotted the princess’s death. Al Fayed’s son, Dodi, also died in the crash.

During a lengthy inquest into their deaths, a senior judge acting as coroner instructed the jury that there was no evidence to support the allegations against Philip, who did not publicly respond to Al Fayed’s charges.

Philip’s final years were clouded by controversy and fissures in the royal family.

His third child, Prince Andrew, was embroiled in scandal over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, an American financier who died in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

U.S. authorities accused Andrew of rebuffing their request to interview him as a witness, and Andrew faced accusations from a woman who said that she had several sexual encounters with the prince at Epstein’s behest. He denied the claim but withdrew from public royal duties amid the scandal.

At the start of 2020, Philip’s grandson Harry and his wife, the American former actress Meghan Markle, announced they were quitting royal duties and moving to North America to escape intense media scrutiny that they found unbearable.

Born June 10, 1921, on the dining room table at his parents’ home on the Greek island of Corfu, Philip was the fifth child and only son of Prince Andrew, younger brother of the king of Greece. His grandfather had come from Denmark during the 1860s to be adopted by Greece as the country’s monarch.

Philip’s mother was Princess Alice of Battenberg, a descendent of German princes. Like his future wife, Elizabeth, Philip was also a great-grandchild of Queen Victoria.

When Philip was 18 months old, his parents fled to France. His father, an army commander, had been tried after a devastating military defeat by the Turks. After British intervention, the Greek junta agreed not to sentence Andrew to death if he left the country.

The family was not exactly poor but, Philip said: “We weren’t well off” — and they got by with help from relatives. He later brought only his navy pay to a marriage with one of the world’s richest women.

Philip’s parents drifted apart when he was a child, and Andrew died in Monte Carlo in 1944. Alice founded a religious order that did not succeed and spent her old age at Buckingham Palace. A reclusive figure, often dressed in a nun’s habit, she was little seen by the British public. She died in 1969 and was posthumously honored by Britain and Israel for sheltering a Jewish family in Nazi-occupied Athens during the war.

Philip went to school in Britain and entered Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth as a cadet in 1939. He got his first posting in 1940 but was not allowed near the main war zone because he was a foreign prince of a neutral nation. When the Italian invasion of Greece ended that neutrality, he joined the war, serving on battleships in the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean and the Pacific.

On leave in Britain, he visited his royal cousins, and, by the end of war, it was clear he was courting Princess Elizabeth, eldest child and heir of King George VI. Their engagement was announced July 10, 1947, and they were married on Nov. 20.

After an initial flurry of disapproval that Elizabeth was marrying a foreigner, Philip’s athletic skills, good looks and straight talk lent a distinct glamour to the royal family.

Elizabeth beamed in his presence, and they had a son and daughter while she was still free of the obligations of serving as monarch.

But King George VI died of cancer in 1952 at age 56.

Philip had to give up his naval career, and his subservient status was formally sealed at the coronation when he knelt before his wife and pledged to become “her liege man of life and limb, and of earthly worship.”

The change in Philip’s life was dramatic.

“Within the house, and whatever we did, it was together,” Philip told biographer Basil Boothroyd of the years before Elizabeth became queen. “People used to come to me and ask me what to do. In 1952, the whole thing changed, very, very considerably.”

Said Boothroyd: “He had a choice between just tagging along, the second handshake in the receiving line, or finding other outlets for his bursting energies.”

So Philip took over management of the royal estates and expanded his travels to all corners of the world, building a role for himself.

From 1956, he was Patron and Chairman of Trustees for the largest youth activity program in Britain, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, a program of practical, cultural and adventurous activities for young people that exists in over 100 countries. Millions of British children have had some contact with the award and its famous camping expeditions.

He painted, collected modern art, was interested in industrial design and planned a garden at Windsor Castle. But, he once said, “the arts world thinks of me as an uncultured, polo-playing clot.”

In time, the famous blond hair thinned and the long, fine-boned face acquired a few lines. He gave up polo but remained trim and vigorous.

To a friend’s suggestion that he ease up a bit, the prince is said to have replied, “Well, what would I do? Sit around and knit?”

But when he turned 90 in 2011, Philip told the BBC he was “winding down” his workload and he reckoned he had “done my bit.”

The next few years saw occasional hospital stays as Philip’s health flagged.

He announced in May 2017 that he planned to step back from royal duties, and he stopped scheduling new commitments — after roughly 22,000 royal engagements since his wife’s coronation. In 2019, he gave up his driver’s license after a serious car crash.

Philip is survived by the queen and their four children — Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward — as well as eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

The grandchildren are Charles’ sons, Prince William and Prince Harry; Anne’s children, Peter and Zara Phillips; Andrew’s daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie; and Edward’s children, Lady Louise and Viscount Severn.

The great-grandchildren are William and Kate’s children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis; Harry and Meghan’s son, Archie; Savannah and Isla, the daughters of Peter Phillips and his wife, Autumn; Mia and Lena, the daughters of Zara Phillips and her husband, Mike Tindall; and Eugenie’s son, August, with her husband, Jack Brooksbank.

Katz and Associated Press writer Robert Barr contributed to this report before their deaths.

LONDON, England —

A year after they last saw one another, Prince William and his brother Prince Harry put their fraught relationship aside as they said farewell to their grandfather at his funeral on Saturday.

The brothers were somber and silent as they walked together in a procession behind Prince Philip's coffin before his funeral at Windsor Castle along with their father, Prince Charles, and other close relatives. They were seen chatting and walking together after the service concluded.

It was the first time the brothers had been together in public since Harry stood down from royal duties and moved to the U.S. with his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and their son Archie in early 2020.

Tensions between Harry, 36, and William, 38, came to the fore after Harry and Meghan gave a revealing interview to U.S. talk show host Oprah Winfrey last month. The couple portrayed the royal family as indifferent to Meghan's mental health struggles, and Harry described his relationship with William as "space at the moment."

On Saturday, William and Harry walked in silence on either side of their cousin, Peter Phillips, as they joined other senior royals in Philip's funeral procession. At one point Phillips fell behind slightly to allow the brothers to walk side by side — a visual echo of the moment the pair, as boys in 1997, walked behind the coffin of their mother Princess Diana in another royal funeral televised around the world.

The brothers sat opposite each other in St. George's Chapel for the funeral, which was attended by only 30 people because of coronavirus restrictions. While William sat next to his wife Kate, Harry was on his own because Meghan is pregnant with their second child and was advised by her doctor not to make the long trip.

Afterwards, Harry, William and Kate strolled together outside the chapel. Moments later, the brothers walked together alone while Kate spoke to Zara Tindall, another of Queen Elizabeth II's eight grandchildren who is William and Harry's cousin.

Rumors of a rift between the brothers — William, the heir, and Harry, the "spare" — have rumbled at least since 2019. That's when Harry and Meghan separated from the Royal Foundation, originally set up as the brothers' joint charitable venture, to set up their own platform. That year, Harry said he loved his brother dearly but they were "on different paths" and have "good days" and "bad days."

Many believe that William was angered and hurt by Harry's decision to speak so publicly about the royal family's issues during the Winfrey interview. In one explosive allegation, they said a family member — not the queen or Philip — had expressed "concerns" about Archie's possible skin color before he was born. Meghan has a Black mother and a white father.

Days after the interview aired, William insisted "we are very much not a racist family," and said he had not spoken to Harry since the broadcast.

It's unclear whether the passing of their grandfather will help the brothers heal their rift. It wasn't immediately clear how long Harry, who has been self-isolating in line with the U.K.'s coronavirus restrictions since arriving from California early this week, will stay in his home country.

Saturday's funeral was limited to only 30 people, who all had to wear masks, sit in family bubbles and remain socially distanced in the same church that had hosted hundreds of people for Harry and Meghan's royal wedding in 2018. And Britain's continued coronavirus restrictions may limit how much opportunity the brothers will get to smooth over their differences.

"Because of the restrictions of COVID, it's difficult to get down to decent conservations," said royal biographer Penny Junor. "It's probably quite difficult to sit down as they normally would over a beer and discuss things."

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are celebrating their son Archie’s second birthday Thursday.

The royal family has been wishing the toddler a happy birthday across social media, with the official Royal Family Instagram account sharing a sweet photo of him with his parents Prince Harry and Meghan at Windsor Castle in 2019.

Other royal family members also celebrated the day, including Prince Charles and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who shared memories from Archie's Christening in July 2019.

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Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor was born at 5:26 a.m. on May 6, 2019, at the Portland Hospital in London.

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Days before Archie's second birthday, Meghan revealed that she would publish a children's book that's inspired by her son and her husband, Prince Harry.

"The Bench" will be an illustrated story told through a mother's eyes, and will look at the "special bond between father and son." It was first written as a poem by Meghan for Harry to mark Father's Day in 2019.

"Evoking a deep sense of warmth, connection, and compassion, 'The Bench' gives readers a window into shared and enduring moments between a diverse group of fathers and sons - moments of peace and reflection, trust and belief, discovery and learning, and lasting comfort," a statement from the book's publisher read.

Earlier this year, the Sussexes revealed that they are expecting their second child, a girl.

Harry and Meghan first announced that they were expecting again on Valentine's Day. At the time, the couple released a black-and-white photo of themselves together taken remotely by their longtime friend, photographer Misan Harriman.