Royal experts have claimed that the Queen’s absence from the BBC’s documentary that commemorated Prince Philip was a noticeable omission.
Viewers have been tuning in to the tribute, which was originally planned to celebrate the Duke of Edinburgh’s 100th birthday, before he passed away only months before the landmark date.
All of the Duke’s grandchildren appeared to reflect on Philip’s impact on their lives, as well as Prince Charles and his wife Camilla.
However, speaking on the Mail’s Palace Confidential podcast, diarist Richard Eden suggested: “There was a gaping absence, though, at the heart of this programme, which was the Queen.
“Everyone was there paying tribute, but the Queen’s not on it.”
Richard acknowledged that this was traditional to form, noting: “Obviously, it’s a conscious decision that she’s made. She’s never given an interview.
“I thought, ‘what a contrast’, really, she will be our last monarch essentially that we don’t know much about.
“We’ve never had that interview – with Charles, with William, they’ve given loads of interviews over the years."
Agreeing, royal journalist Victoria Murphy suggested that other family members still felt comfortable to comment on Philip’s relationship with his wife, the Queen.
“We would never have expected her to appear would we? That just wouldn’t have happened,” she stressed.
“But I thought some of the family members did give some insight into how they saw the relationship, but they were quite careful actually to really stay away from anything that was too revealing about how she might feel about the situation.
“It very much felt like their tribute. It was produced by the BBC, yes, but, the Royal Family was promoting it on their channels, they provided all this access, they provided footage,
“So it did very much feel like a tribute that the family took ownership of”.
During the tributes, a number of stories were told about Philip’s well-known sense of humour.
Prince William recalled the time a young man unknowingly swore at the Duke while completing a DofE expedition, and also remembered a trick his grandfather used to play on them involving mustard.
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