Prince Philip’s beloved horse carriage was present at funeral

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Updated on April 18, 2021

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Prince Philip’s cap and whip are seen on top of his carriage in poignant photographs, a reminder of his passion of carriage driving.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral had some eccentric and historical features, from his ponies’ sugar lumps pot to a haunting Russian hymn.

The sport of carriage driving, which Philip adored and helped to promote, is proudly featured at the funeral. As his coffin travels through the Windsor Castle Quadrangle, a carriage and two fell horses, Balmoral Nevis and Notlaw Storm, are present. While the sport was never a part of his official existence, tributes after his death have shown how important it was to him as a distinguishing passion and an environment in which he felt most at ease.

On Saturday, the polished dark green four-wheeled carriage stood in the Quadrangle of Windsor Castle, flanked by two of Prince Philip’s grooms, while the duke’s coffin was borne past in a procession on a Land Rover hearse.

Image: BBC

The Duke had started writing the first international guidelines for carriage driving in 1968 as president of the International Equestrian Federation. He went to Budapest in 1971 to see the first European Championship and then to Germany in 1972 to watch the World Championships and see if the rules worked.

In 1980, he was a part of the British team that won the world carriage driving championships in Windsor, and the next year, he was a member of the bronze-medal-winning British team at the European championships in Switzerland.

He stopped driving four-in-hand squads at the end of the 1980s, but managed to compete with pony teams.