The Queen is ‘believed’ to be attending this morning’s service of thanksgiving for the life of her late husband Prince Philip, sources at Buckingham Palace have confirmed just hours before the event begins.
The 95-year-old monarch has been determined to travel to London to mark the long and productive life of the Duke of Edinburgh in her first major public engagement away from Windsor Castle in nearly six months.
While the Queen’s arrival at Westminster Abbey was mentioned in the order of service, a final decision on her attendance is only understood to have been made first thing this morning amid her mobility issues.
Live coverage of the event will begin on BBC One at 10.30am today, with the service itself starting at 11.30am. Royal sources said at 9am that the Queen was ‘currently intending’ to go and was ‘believed’ to be attending.
The Palace are thought to have not given an outright confirmation on the Queen’s attendance so they can still have some logistical flexibility, although the guidance also shows that her presence was by no means assured.
The monarch made the final…
