Buckingham Palace announces date for Duke of Edinburgh service
Monday, 7th February 2022
Buckingham Palace has announced that a Service of Thanksgiving for the life of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey will take place on Tuesday 29th March.
Attendance at the Service of Thanksgiving will be by invitation only.
The Duke of Edinburgh, who died in April last year, had a long association with Westminster Abbey. On 20th November 1947, he married HRH Princess Elizabeth here (she became Queen in 1952), and they celebrated anniversaries including their Silver, Golden and Diamond Wedding anniversaries with services in the Abbey.
In 1956 he set up the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, the 60th anniversary of which was celebrated at a special service in November 2016. He was also President and Chairman of the Westminster Abbey Trust, set up in 1973, to raise funds for the restoration of the exterior of the Abbey.
For many years, His Royal Highness attended the annual Opening of the Field of Remembrance. Organised each year by The Poppy Factory, the Field of Remembrance sees thousands of poppies on wooden crosses and memorials, each representing a serviceman or servicewoman who has died in conflict, planted in the grounds of the Abbey.
He also attended a great many other services and events at the Abbey over the years.
