Princes William, Harry to Stand Vigil at Queen Elizabeth’s Coffin on Saturday

Eight grandchildren of Queen Elizabeth, including Princes William and Harry, will keep vigil outside her casket on Saturday night for 15 minutes, a spokeswoman for Kensington Palace announced on Friday.

Elizabeth’s casket will lay in state at Westminster Hall in London until Monday to allow for public mourning of the late monarch.

“The Prince of Wales will stand at the Head, the Duke of Sussex at the Foot,” the spokesman said, using William and Harry’s royal titles. “At the King’s request, they will both be in uniform.”

Harry and William, the heir to the British monarchy, both have military experience.

Harry, an Afghanistan War veteran, has not yet been allowed to attend events while dressed in military garb since he lost his honorary military titles when he resigned from his royal responsibilities in 2020.

The spokesperson stated that their wives would not be present during the vigil.

Peter Phillips, Zara Tindall, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, Lady Louise Windsor, James, and Viscount Severn will all be with the brothers.

Since the Queen’s passing, Prince Harry has started donning a morning suit to public occasions.

It indicates that the vigil would be his first appearance in military garb since resuming his role as a senior royal in 2020.

The line to lay in state at Westminster Hall will extend as far as Southwark Park until Monday, the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s burial.

With his wife Meghan and their two children, Prince Harry currently resides in California after serving two tours in Afghanistan as a member of the Army.

According to a prior statement from a representative for Prince Harry, he will “wear a morning suit throughout events honouring his grandmother”.

“His decade of military service is not determined by the uniform he wears, and we respectfully ask that focus remain on the life and legacy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.”

Due to the King’s request, Prince Harry will follow the Duke of York’s lead and wear military attire to the vigil.

Despite stepping down from royal responsibilities in 2019, Prince Andrew will be permitted to wear his military uniform during a vigil held by the Queen’s children later that day.

King Charles and his three siblings, Princess Anne, the Duke of York, and the Earl of Wessex, will maintain a vigil at the lying-in-state ceremony at Westminster Hall.

They previously performed this as the Queen was laid to rest at Edinburgh’s St. Giles’ Cathedral.

In a homage to his grandmother on Monday, Prince Harry wrote of her “infectious smile.”

His recollections of the Queen attending his passing-out march in 2006, when he was promoted to the rank of officer in the British Army, were among the “special moments” they had shared.

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