Prince Philip’s funeral guest list in full: 30 mourners include close friend Penny Brabourne

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The 30 guests at Prince Philip‘s funeral on Saturday have been revealed and include his ‘daredevil’ best female friend from Sandringham, his grandchildren’s spouses and his German relatives, but not Sarah Ferguson, who the Duke famously branded ‘beyond the pale’.

Buckingham Palace said the Queen faced ‘some very difficult’ decisions as she selected the small group permitted under Covid-19 rules, from the original 800-strong congregation, and had tried to ensure all branches of the duke’s family were there.

The 67-year-old Countess of Mountbatten – Penelope ‘Penny’ Knatchbull, previously known as Lady Romsey and later Lady Brabourne – will join the monarch, the Queen and Philip’s four children and eight grandchildren and their respective spouses at the service in St George’s Chapel on Saturday.

These include Jack Brooksbank, the husband of Eugenie, daughter of the duchess and the Duke of York, and Beatrice’s husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.

Three German relatives – whose ancestors were denied a place at Princess Elizabeth and Philip’s wedding because of anti-German feeling after the second war – have been included. 

Countess Mountbatten is the wife of Earl Mountbatten, Norton Knatchbull – the grandson of Philip’s beloved uncle the 1st Earl Mountbatten, who was murdered by the IRA in 1979. 

He and Penny were often pictured together at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, sometimes riding mini motorcycles around the carriage driving course. She was a regular visitor at the duke’s Wood Farm cottage at Sandringham after his retirement.

The announcement of the 30 person guest list came as more details emerged about Prince Philip’s funeral, including:

• That the Queen will travel in the funeral cortege in a state Bentley to St George’s Chapel – where the ceremony will take place
• It was also revealed that Prince Harry will not walk side by side with Price William, and will be separated by cousin Peter Phillips as they walk in a line behind their grandfather’s coffin;
• When the coffin is taken into the chapel, William will move ahead of his brother as the royal family arrives in pairs;
• The royal men will wear morning coats with their medals and the women will wear day dresses;   
• Buglers of the Royal Marines will sound Action Stations during the service, while a reduced choir of four singers will feature during the service and the guests will not sing; 
• While the Queen will be joined by her trusted companion on her way to the service, she will sit by herself in the quire of the chapel
• Meanwhile, the first pictures of a Land Rover hearse Philip designed himself were also revealed today, after he had requested a repaint in military green and had designed the open top rear and special ‘stops’ to secure his coffin in place;

Others on the guest list include the Queen’s first cousins Princess Alexandra, the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent, who loyally supported the monarch and Philip by carrying out royal duties over the decades.

But the most prominent name missing from the list is Prince Harry’s wife Meghan, who has stayed at home in Los Angeles.

Also is missing is the Queen’s cousin, Prince Michael of Kent, 78, who is not a working royal. There was also not room for the spouses of the Queen’s cousins – the Duchess of Gloucester and the Duchess of Kent, nor Prince Michael’s often controversial wife, Princess Michael of Kent.

Also invited were the children of the Queen’s late sister Princess Margaret – the Earl of Snowdon and Lady Sarah Chatto and her husband David Chatto.

The Queen is particularly close to Lady Sarah.

Guests also include the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Princess Royal and husband Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence, the Duke of York, the Earl and Countess of Wessex, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke of Sussex, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and their spouses, Peter Phillips and Zara and Mike Tindall.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: ‘At its heart it is still a family event.

‘We are following the Covid guidelines. There was a limit on who could be invited as a guest and Her Majesty wanted to ensure that all branches of the duke’s family were there, and had to make some very difficult decisions about who would be there.

‘For those that unfortunately can’t be there, I’m sure they will be making their own private arrangements about how they commemorate the duke, and indeed celebrate the duke. ‘

Also missing from the list is the Duchess of Sussex, who is pregnant with her second child was told by doctors not to fly, and the duke’s 10-great-grandchildren, who are all considered too young to attend.

Here is the guest list in full:

1. The Queen 

The nation’s longest-serving head of state, who was married to the duke for 73 years, will lead mourners as they gather in St George’s Chapel on Saturday.

Elizabeth II has reigned for 69 years and faces the remainder of her time on the throne without her loyal consort at her side.

This week it was revealed the Queen will never be allowed to ‘walk alone’ by her family following the death of her beloved husband.

Senior royals are coming together to ensure that she will be accompanied on more public engagements by a member of the family in the future.

Those who will be seen at her side are the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Earl and Countess of Wessex and Princess Anne.

Sources stressed that the elderly monarch, who says Prince Philip’s death has left a ‘huge void’ in her life, will continue to meet as many commitments as possible once two weeks of official Royal Mourning ends on April 22, the day after her 95th birthday

2. The Prince of Wales

Prince Charles was in tears as he inspected flowers left for his late father outside Buckingham Palace. After a fractious relationship at times, they became closer later in life.

The Prince of Wales should have been spending the day celebrating his 16th wedding anniversary with his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, but was instead coming to terms with the passing of such a towering figure in his life last Friday,

A source close to the future king said he was ‘comforted’ by the fact they had been in touch more regularly than ever in recent weeks and months – and that father and son ‘had said all the things that needed to be said’.

Charles is believed to have seen Philip as recently as March 23, when he visited Windsor for a private engagement with the Queen, and has spoken to him frequently on the phone.

He was also the only family member to have spent time with the elderly royal when he was in hospital back in February.

The Mail understands that a tearful Charles made the 200-mile round trip from Highgrove, his Gloucestershire home, to the King Edward VII Hospital in London because he had been warned that his father was ‘seriously ill’ and wanted to see him for possibly the last time – although Philip managed to temporarily pull through on that occasion.

The source said: ‘It is some small comfort today that the prince was in much more regular contact with his father in recent weeks and months than he otherwise might have been.

‘He was the only family member who was able to visit him in hospital and he was at Windsor as recently as the week before last. They spoke great deal.’

3. The Duchess of Cornwall

Camilla looked equally emotional when looking at flowers for Philip and appeared tearful when arriving at Windsor to see the Queen today.

As for Prince Philip, although he’d never approved of his son’s affair with Camilla, nor of his handling of it, he could see no objection to Charles eventually marrying his mistress.

But the Duke of Edinburgh had enjoyed a good relationship with his son’s first wife Princess Diana.

In one of his regular letters to her, Philip had actually written to Diana: ‘I cannot imagine anyone in their right mind leaving you for Camilla.’ 

Being a pragmatist, he was pleased to see the situation ‘regularised’. ‘You can’t argue with the inevitable,’ he told friend Gyles Brandreth. When I asked what he made of Camilla, he was circumspect but agreed that she was a good sort, adding: ‘She’s good with the boys.’

The Queen, for her part, discovered quite quickly that Camilla is very much her sort of woman.

It certainly helps that her daughter-in-law can talk easily (and amusingly) about dogs and horses.

In addition, Camilla is comfortable with the Queen’s view of life; she’s politically incorrect (in a good way), funny, self-deprecating, realistic; and, like the Queen, she’s a mother and a grandmother who’s been a bit tempest-tossed but has managed to weather the storms. 

At the wedding in 2005, Her Majesty made a witty speech in which she welcomed her son and his bride to ‘the winners’ enclosure.’

‘They have overcome Becher’s Brook and The Chair and all kinds of other terrible obstacles,’ she said. ‘They have come through, and I’m very proud and wish them well. My son is home and dry with the woman he loves.’ 

4. The Duke of Cambridge

Prince William issued a sweet picture taken by Kate of his eldest son, Prince George, with Philip, and vowed to ‘get on with the job’ as his grandfather would have wanted him to.

He also vowed that he and Kate would ‘continue to do what he would have wanted and will support the Queen in the years ahead’.

Released yesterday in tribute to the late duke by William and Kate, the couple showed a picture of Philip sitting on one of his carriages, with tousle-haired George clutching a book about tractors.

The easy camaraderie between old and young demonstrates the bond Philip had with the younger members of his ever-growing family.

In a moving tribute, William spoke of the happy times they all had together, particularly up in Norfolk, where Philip made his home in the last few years of his life.

‘I will never take for granted the special memories my children will always have of their great-grandpa coming to collect them in his carriage and seeing for themselves his infectious sense of adventure as well as his mischievous sense of humour!’ he wrote. 

5. The Duchess of Cambridge

Kate and Prince Philip enjoyed a good relationship, with Prince William saying he was thankful that Kate, who married into the royal family in 2011 after meeting William nearly a decade earlier, had ‘so many years’ to get to know his grandfather.

He said he had used the duke’s example of a life of service as a guide and was lucky to have had him there during ‘good times’ and difficult ones. 

William said of Philip in his tribute: ‘My grandfather’s century of life was defined by service – to his country and Commonwealth, to his wife and Queen, and to our family.

‘I feel lucky to have not just had his example to guide me, but his enduring presence well into my own adult life – both through good times and the hardest days.

‘I will always be grateful that my wife had so many years to get to know my grandfather and for the kindness he showed her.’ 

William said he and Kate have pledged to follow the duke’s wishes and support the Queen.

‘My grandfather was an extraordinary man and part of an extraordinary generation. Catherine and I will continue to do what he would have wanted and will support the Queen in the years ahead,’ he said.

‘I will miss my Grandpa, but I know he would want us to get on with the job.’

6. The Duke of Sussex

Harry, who enjoyed an equally warm relationship with their grandfather, described him as a man of ‘service, honour, and great humour’.

He wrote: ‘He was authentically himself, with a seriously sharp wit, and could hold the attention of any room due to his charm – and also because you never knew what he might say next.’

The prince, 36, said his grandfather would be remembered as the longest reigning consort in British history, ‘a decorated serviceman, a prince and a duke’ adding: ‘But to me… he was my grandpa: master of the barbecue, legend of banter and cheeky right ’til the end.’ In a nod to Philip’s well-known impatience, Harry added: ‘He has been a rock for Her Majesty The Queen with unparalleled devotion, by her side for 73 years of marriage, and while I could go on, I know that right now he would say to all of us, beer in hand, “Oh do get on with it!”

‘So, on that note, Grandpa, thank you for your service, your dedication to Granny, and for always being yourself.’

Harry said he, Meghan, Archie – and Philip’s future great-granddaughter they are expecting this summer – will ‘always hold a special place for you in our hearts’.

He concluded with the Latin motto of the Royal Marines, ‘Per Mare, Per Terram’, meaning ’by sea, by land’. Philip was, for 64 years, Captain General of the Royal Marines, a role he handed down to Harry when he retired in 2017. Although the role was initially held in abeyance after Harry and Meghan announced their plans to quit royal duties, the Queen decided she had no choice but to ask him to give it up this year. Harry was said to be deeply angered by the decision.

The Daily Mail revealed how Philip regretted his grandson’s decision to quit royal life and thought it was ‘not the right thing either for the country or themselves’.

He thought their decision to do a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey was ‘madness’ and that ‘no good would come of it’.

But biographer Gyles Brandreth said Philip also believed Harry was a ‘good man’ who had to live his own life.

7. The Duke of York  

The 61-year-old prince has sparked ructions at Buckingham Palace after he told his mother and senior officials that he wished to attend the funeral as an Admiral. 

The widowed Queen was forced to make a decision in 24 hours and decided in the end that nobody could wear military uniform in the end.   

Significantly, while many of Andrew’s charitable patronages have deserted him, he has not been stripped of his military positions and titles yet.

He has been accused by one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre, of having sex with her twice when she was just 17. Andrew has strongly denied all accusations. He has kept a generally low profile since being forced out of public life, but in recent days talked of the ‘huge void’ his father’s passing had left in the Queen’s life.

There have been reports he hopes to rehabilitate his image and make a return to public life.

His ex-wife Sarah Ferguson did all she could to prove herself worthy of his affection – and forgiveness. But, despite her best efforts the Duchess of York, never dissuaded Prince Philip from his belief that she was ‘beyond the pale’.

Fergie, 61, is not invited but will mark his death by planting a magnolia tree in his honour at Royal Lodge, the Windsor residence she and Prince Andrew share.

8. Princess Beatrice

Beatrice was delighted that Philip and the Queen made it to a secret lockdown for her wedding to property tycoon Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi last summer.

The smiling duke was pictured – socially distanced from the bride and groom – in images released to mark the day.

As a child, Beatrice – the eldest daughter of the Duke of York and Sarah, Duchess of York – sometimes travelled to church in the Queen and Philip’s car.

Beatrice, 32, has a full-time job at Afiniti, an artificial intelligence software firm, where she is vice president of partnerships and strategy.

9. Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi

Edo, as he’s known, and Beatrice got together in 2018, he was newly separated from but still living with his former fiancee, Harvard-educated architect Dara Huang, the mother of his son, Christopher ‘Wolfie’ Woolf, now five.

Edo describes himself as a property developer. His property development company Banda, which he set up in 2007 aged 24, specialises in creating homes for the super-rich in which no expense or detail is spared. The company has reportedly made him a multi-millionaire. 

His basic CV reads like that of any middle-class Englishman; he was educated privately at Radley College in Oxfordshire and studied business and economics at Edinburgh University. 

Yet his dashing appeal is more colourful. 

His father Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi was born in Argentina but moved with his parents to the UK. A charismatic figure, he went on to become a British junior ski champion and represented Great Britain at the Winter Olympics in Sapporo in Japan in 1972.

10. Princess Eugenie

Philip’s death came weeks after Eugenie, 31, became a first-time mother.

Her son August – who has the middle name Philip in tribute to his great-grandfather – was born in February.

The youngest daughter of the Duke of York works as a director at the contemporary art gallery Hauser & Wirth in London.

Her affection for both her grandparents has been evident over the years.

“They are the most incredibly supportive couple to each other… I think he is her rock, really, and she is his,” she said during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee festivities in 2012.

11. Jack Brooksbank

Jack is the husband of Eugenie, daughter of the duchess and the Duke of York, is the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh’s granddaughter and Princess Beatrice’s younger sister. 

Last month the couple shared new pictures of her son as she thanked well-wishers for their birthday messages.

Sharing the images with baby August – born in February – and husband Jack, the Queen’s grand-daughter said she got the ‘best present I could ask for’.

In the first image shared on her Instagram account, the couple were posed by a tree, with Eugenie who turned 31 on Tuesday cradling the baby boy, who was wearing a cardigan embroidered with his name.

A second picture shows the youngster with his eyes open on his father’s shoulder.

The caption accompanying both of the images read: ‘Thank you for the birthday love yesterday.

‘I got the best present I could ask for!’

12. The Earl of Wessex  

The Earl of Wessex, the Queen and Prince Philip’s youngest son, has been supporting his mother at Windsor this week

The Earl of Wessex said his mother is ‘bearing up’ and that the ‘wave of affection’ for his father and ‘fantastic’ tributes are appreciated by the family.

His popular wife Sophie candidly described the circumstances of the duke’s death as ‘very peaceful’ when she chatted to a member of the congregation, saying it was if ‘somebody took him by the hand and off he went’.

He has most recently thanked holders and participants of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, and the International Award, for sharing their memories of his father and their experiences of the scheme.

Edward said about Philip: ‘He may have departed this world, but his spirit and ethos lives on through his award, through each and every life touched, transformed, inspired; then, now and in the future.’

13. The Countess of Wessex

Of all her close family, the Queen is said to lean most on the Countess of Wessex – Prince Edward’s wife, Sophie.

The 56-year-old, whose own mother, Mary, died in 2005, is like another daughter to her. 

They genuinely enjoy each other’s company and Sophie frequently goes to the castle to see her. Before Covid, the monarch would visit her home in Bagshot Park, Surrey.

The Queen sees Sophie as a safe and loyal pair of hands. Her daughter, Lady Louise, was extremely close to her great-grandfather as they shared a passion for carriage-driving. 

Louise, 17, was even seen driving his vehicle and horses on the day he died. 

14. Lady Louise Windsor

Seventeen-year-old Lady Louise has embraced the pastimes associated with her grandfather, taking up carriage driving and starting her Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Award.

The teenager, who is studying for A-levels, attended church with her parents the Earl and Countess of Wessex on Sunday as they gave tributes honouring Philip.

Edward and Sophie decided that when Lady Louise was born, although she would just use Windsor, she should have the full surname Mountbatten-Windsor, which will have pleased her grandfather.

Philip was forbidden from using his family name Mountbatten for his own children when they were born, and is said to have exclaimed: ‘I’m just a bloody amoeba.’

Lady Louise arrived prematurely in November 2003, weighing just 4lb 9oz.

15. Viscount Severn

Thirteen-year-old James is the youngest of the Queen and Philip’s grandchildren, and lives with his family in Bagshot Park, Surrey, 10 miles from Windsor Castle.

The Wessex children occasionally join their parents for official engagements including Trooping the Colour balcony appearances.

Last September, they collected rubbish on Southsea beach in Portsmouth to encourage others to do the same during the pandemic.

Mischievous James was seen prodding his sister on the back of her legs with a rubbish grabber.

16. The Princess Royal

Princess Anne reminisced fondly about learning to sail as a child with her father when she visited two prestigious yacht clubs on the Isle of Wight yesterday.

Anne, who honoured her father at the weekend by describing him as ‘my teacher, my supporter and my critic’, travelled to Cowes and visited the Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS).

The princess appeared in good spirits as she met with members of the RYS and she spoke fondly of her ‘links’ and ‘early memories of sailing’ at the west Cowes-based club.

The Queen has cancelled most of her family’s official engagements during two weeks of official royal mourning for the Duke of Edinburgh.

But she gave their daughter special dispensation to go ahead with the previously planned visits as a tribute to her late husband because she felt ‘it was what he would have wanted’.

Philip went to Cowes Week for 50 years and was Admiral of the Royal Yacht Squadron and president of the Royal Yachting Association, a position now held by Anne.

She recalled how her father enjoyed glamorous days of yacht racing during Cowes Week and other regattas off the island with his late friend Uffa Fox, an Isle of Wight-based boat designer.

The Princess, who went out on the water to watch young sailors undergoing instruction, remembered learning to sail with her father on Bloodhound, a 63ft ocean-going yacht bought for the Royal Family at Philip’s request in 1962 and used by the Windsors until 1969.

17. Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence

Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, husband of the Princess Royal, is one of the most low-profile members of the Royal Family but, as chairman of English Heritage, he is in charge of some of the most famous structures in the world.

He is the chief custodian of more than 400 hallowed national sites — ranging from Stonehenge and the Battlefield of Hastings to Shropshire’s Iron Bridge and Osborne House — not to mention all those blue plaques on the homes of bygone greats.

On his watch, the whole lot has been turned into a new charity. And it has never attempted anything quite like the new bridge to ‘King Arthur’s Castle’.

18. Peter Phillips  

The 43-year-old is the eldest son of the Princess Royal and was the duke’s first grandchild.

His summers were spent – like all of the duke’s close descendants – with the Queen and Philip at Balmoral, and onboard the Royal Yacht Britannia.

In 1991, a teenage Peter welcomed his grandparents on a tour of Port Regis school in Dorset, showing Philip a burglar alarm he made for a classroom project.

Mr Phillips, who announced his divorce from wife Autumn last year, runs the UK arm of events and sponsorship agency Sports and Entertainment Ltd (SEL), after a previous career working for RBS and in Hong Kong on a Williams Formula One sponsorship deal.

In 2016, his agency organised the Patron’s Lunch celebration in honour of the Queen’s 90th birthday.

19. Zara Tindall

The champion equestrian rider won a silver medal in the London 2012 Olympics with Team GB.

A firm favourite with her grandparents, she has often been pictured greeting the Queen and Philip warmly at official or family events.

The Princess Royal’s daughter gave birth weeks ago to her third child.

She named her son Lucas Philip, with his middle name in honour of both the duke and husband Mike Tindall’s father.

20. Mike Tindall 

Ex-England rugby star Mike Tindall had a good relationship with sports-mad Prince Philip. 

Last month Zara, 39, delivered her new baby, a bouncing 8lb 4oz son, on the bathroom floor with the help of her former England captain husband, Mike, and best friend Dolly Maud.

Her overjoyed husband, who had made no secret of his desire for a son in addition to their two daughters, Mia, seven, and two-year-old Lena, admiringly dubbed his wife a ‘warrior’.

He described how he had run downstairs at their home on Princess Anne’s Gatcombe Park estate on Sunday night to grab a mat from their gym and some towels as Zara gave birth.

Their bouncing baby boy has been named Lucas Philip – in honour not just of his royal great-grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, but Tindall’s own father, who shares the same name.

21. Earl of Snowdon

David, who inherited the title Earl of Snowdon on the death of his father in January 2017, is known as the ‘royal carpenter’ because of his high-end furniture business, Linley.

He is 21st in line to the throne, has lectured around the world and written books about furniture and styling the home.

He is honorary chairman for Europe, the Middle East, Russia and India of auctioneers Christie’s. He was promoted to the role in 2015 from his former role of chairman of Christie’s UK.

The Earl’s mother Margaret, the Queen’s sister, died in 2002 and he became the 2nd Earl of Snowdon following the death of his father the Earl of Snowdon, celebrity photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, in 2017.

The Earl, also known by his professional name of David Linley, also produces luxury British accessories and has reportedly created the interiors for a number of exclusive central London homes.

Linley was picked by Prince Charles, his first cousin, as number two in his The Prince’s Foundation, a new merger of his charity commitments, in 2018 – an appointment which raised eyebrows as he was chosen ahead of the heir to the throne’s sons William and Harry.

22. Lady Sarah Chatto

The Queen’s niece Lady Sarah Chatto is much loved by Her Majesty and by Prince Philip before his death.

Daughter of the Queen’s late sister, Princess Margaret, Lady Sarah is one of the most low-key Royals yet holds a very special place in Her Majesty’s affections. 

Sarah, a successful artist who is 21st in line to the throne, reminds the Queen of her much-missed sister Margaret, to whom she was very close. 

One royal insider said: ‘The Queen adores Sarah and seeks out her company as often as possible. She is her absolute favourite younger Royal.

‘They are hugely at ease in each other’s company. Much giggling can be heard when they are together. They share a sense of loyalty, fun, duty and the ridiculous.’  

Often the first choice for godmother — Sarah counts Prince Harry, Prince Edward’s daughter, Louise, and the Duke of Gloucester’s daughter, Rose, among her godchildren — she is known as discreet and utterly loyal.

Perhaps the only Royal to arrive at Buckingham Palace by foot — and use public transport — Lady Sarah Chatto is the antithesis of the puffed-up minor Royal.

23. Daniel Chatto

Lady Sarah’s husband Daniel Chatto, who she met whilst working as a wardrobe assistant on ‘Heat and Dust’, in which dashing actor Chatto had a small role, that her love life became serious. 

The son of actor Tom Chatto, and theatrical agent Ros Chatto, Daniel appeared in around a dozen films and TV programmes, often period dramas based on the novels of W. Somerset Maugham or Charles Dickens.

He soon gave up his acting career, however, to focus on painting, a passion shared with Sarah.

Together he and Sarah set up home in Kensington whilst still unmarried — a fact that enraged Princess Margaret — where they still live in a small, pretty, Grade II listed terrace house.

They also have a Georgian country farmhouse near Midhurst in Sussex, given to Sarah by her godfather, the late art-loving philanthropist Simon Sainsbury.

Indeed her wedding to Chatto in July 1994 — a few months after her brother married Serena Stanhope — was such a short, simple affair that chauffeurs were caught by surprise: the Queen, Prince Philip and Diana had to wait at the City church of St Stephen’s Walbrook after the service for their cars to come back. 

24. Duke of Gloucester

The duke is a first cousin of the Queen and although not as well-known as many others, is classed as a full-time working member of the Royal Family, as is his wife, who is not invited.

He attends more than 100 national and international events each year in support of The Queen and is associated with more than 150 charities and organisations.

25. Duke of Kent

Born in 1935, the Duke of Kent is the son of the late Prince George, the fourth son of King George V and the late Princess Marina, daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece.

The Duke inherited his royal title at the age of six after his father’s life was tragically cut short in a plane crash in 1942.

After a lengthy military career, he has spent many years performing royal duties on behalf of his cousin the Queen.

He is perhaps best known for being President of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club and presenting the Wimbledon trophies each summer.

The royal is also the country’s top Freemason – the secret society’s Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England.

‘Eddie’ Kent was a respected Army officer who also acted as Britain’s international trade ambassador for 25 years.

His wife the Duchess of Kent has withdrawn from public life, dropping her HRH title, after reportedly suffering from depression and other illnesses.   

26. Princess Alexandra

Princess Alexandra has been hailed as ‘a national treasure’ and ‘the most royal’ member of The Firm by experts, after the little-known royal joined the family’s efforts to support the nation during the pandemic.

The minor royal, 83, is a first cousin and close confidante of the Queen and has spent the last 60 years dedicating her life to royal duty.

Princess Alexandra, who is 53rd in line to the the throne, spoke with the head of the Naval Nursing Service in her role as Patron of Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service (QARNNS). 

Earlier this year, Queen used her social media to shine a spotlight on Princess Alexandra, among other ‘quiet achievers’ within the royal family, in the wake of Megxit.

In February, the Royal Family account, which boasts 7.5million followers, broadened its focus from only the Queen’s immediate family – her children and ‘working’ grandchildren – to include her first cousins and their spouses.

27. Bernhard, Hereditary Prince of Baden

Prince Bernhard, 50, is a grandson of the Duke’s second sister, Theodora (known as ‘Dolla’). 

Prince Philip’s German relatives were all denied a place at his wedding, thanks to post-war nervousness at Buckingham Palace. But for the rest of his life, the Duke of Edinburgh was adamant that bygones should be bygones.

That is why he made it clear that he wanted his ‘blood’ family — the network of German nieces, nephews and cousins to whom he was devoted — to be properly represented and included in his funeral arrangements. 

28. Prince Philipp of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Prince Philipp of Hohenlohe-Langenburg is one of three members of the Duke’s European family attending the funeral. 

They are currently locked in a Covid-compliant bubble at the Berkshire home of a mutual friend.

‘It was such a joy having a conversation with him. His memory was extraordinary,’ Prince Philipp said recently 

‘He could remember playing hide-and-seek in the castle when he was a boy, and he always enjoyed talking to the local people.

‘He could switch from German to English and back, whether he was talking about Winston Churchill or the local wildlife.’ 

29. Prince Donatus, Landgrave of Hesse

Prince Donatus, known as ‘Don’, 54, is the head of the House of Hesse, into which the Duke’s two younger sisters, Cecile and Sophie (known as ‘Tiny’) married. 

He is a regular at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, spending time with the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen.

‘It really is an incredible honour and we are all extremely touched and privileged to be included on behalf of the wider family,’ says Prince Philipp, 51, in a statement from the house where he and his cousins must remain isolated until the weekend. 

30. The Countess Mountbatten of Burma

One of Prince Philip’s closest friends and confidantes, Penny Brabourne, Countess Mountbatten of Burma, is attending the funeral.

The Countess was a regular visitor at Wood Farm, the cottage on the edge of the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk where the Prince spent much of his time after retiring from public life in August 2017.

The pair were firm friends for decades and shared a love for the exhilarating equestrian sport of carriage-driving.

Indeed, the 67-year-old Countess enjoyed such a close bond with the Queen and Philip that Palace staff reportedly nicknamed her ‘and also’, because no guest list was considered complete without her.

The only daughter of butcher-turned-businessman Reginald Eastwood, she was propelled into the Royal Family through her marriage to Norton Knatchbull, 3rd Earl Mountbatten of Burma.

The Earl was a close friend of Prince Charles – the pair attended Gordonstoun together and Charles was Norton’s best man when he married Penny in 1979.

The wedding was delayed for eight weeks because five months earlier, IRA bombers blew up a small boat in the sea off Mullaghmore, County Sligo, killing Norton’s grandfather, Lord Mountbatten. Norton’s 14-year-old younger brother, Nicholas, his paternal grandmother the Dowager Lady Brabourne, and a local boy who was with the family, also died in the terror attack.

Penny is understood to have formed a close friendship with the Queen and Prince Philip after her daughter Leonora contracted liver cancer and died aged five in 1991.

WHO WILL BE MISSING?

– The Duchess of Sussex

Meghan, who is pregnant with her second child, has stayed in California after doctors advised her not to fly.

But her attendance would have proved controversial in the wake of the allegations she raised during her Oprah interview.

– The great-grandchildren

The Queen and Philip’s 10 great-grandchildren – Savannah and Isla Phillips; Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis of Cambridge; Mia, Lena and Lucas Tindall; Archie Mountbatten-Windsor; and August Brooksbank – are considered too young to attend. All are aged 10 and under.

– A first cousin – and spouses of cousins

The Queen’s cousin Prince Michael of Kent is not on the guest list, nor is his wife Princess Michael of Kent, or the Duchess of Kent and the Duchess of Gloucester – spouses of the Duke of Kent and the Duke of Gloucester.