The Prince and Princess of Wales were among members of the Royal Family to attend the Duchess of Kent’s funeral after the Queen was forced to pull out due to illness.
Prince Andrew and the Duchess of York were also at Westminster Cathedral for the funeral service.
The King also attended but without the Queen as she is recovering from acute sinusitis.
Buckingham Palace announced this afternoon that the Queen wouldn’t attend the Requiem Mass.
“With great regret, Her Majesty The Queen has withdrawn from attendance at this afternoon’s Requiem Mass for The Duchess of Kent as she is recovering from acute sinusitis. Her thoughts and prayers will be with The Duke of Kent and all the family,” a Palace spokesperson said.
The Palace added that she hopes to recover in time for the forthcoming State Visit and other engagements later this week.
She travelled from Scotland this morning and is now resting at Windsor.
The Princess Royal and Sir Tim Laurence, the Duchess of Edinburgh and the close family of the Duke and Duchess of Kent were among other mourners at the funeral.
Former Formula One world champion Sir Jackie Stewart and actresses Rula Lenska and Dame Maureen Lipman were present.
The Duke, Prince Edward, was visibly emotional as he bid farewell to his wife of 64 years.
The Duke followed closely behind his late wife's coffin after the funeral as it was slowly carried outside and watched while it was placed inside the royal hearse.
The attendance of Andrew, the Duke of York, was a rare appearance alongside other members of the Royal Family after he stepped back from his duties following his links to disgraced paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The Princess of Wales was wearing a four strand pearl and diamond choker necklace which belonged to Queen Elizabeth II.Kate wore the piece to the late Queen's state funeral in 2022.
The requiem mass, a Catholic funeral, is the first to be held for a member of the monarchy in modern British history and featured a Scottish bagpipe lament performed during Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in 2022.
The funeral was conducted by Cardinal Vincent Nichols, leader of the Roman Catholic church in England and Wales.
Pope Leo XIV paid a personal tribute to the duchess, praising her "legacy of Christian goodness" and her "dedication to official duties" in a message delivered during the service.
A piper from The Royal Dragoon Guards played the lament – Sleep, Dearie, Sleep – while processing from the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary, past the duchess’s coffin in the Nave and down the cathedral’s central aisle.
The late Queen’s funeral service at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, ended with a piper playing the same tune.
Music at the funeral included Ave Verum Corpus by Mozart, which was selected by the duchess as her favourite piece when she was a guest on the BBC's Desert Island Discs in 1990.
Moments before the requiem mass began the duchess's immediate family arrived, led by her daughter Lady Helen Taylor, walking arm in arm along the nave with her father the Duke of Kent.
Behind them were her siblings, Lord Nicholas Windsor and George, Earl of St Andrews, and the duchess's many grandchildren.
Bishop James Curry, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster, gave an uplifting homily highlighting the duchess's varied public life, from training to work with the Samaritans, visiting Lourdes, or co-founding the music charity for young people Future Talent.
He said: "Mrs Kent loved teaching children, knowing that a classroom is full of learners. Too often young minds, and ours, are solely defined by hurts, wounds and disappointments.
"With Future Talent Mrs Kent wanted those young persons to have the opportunity to be defined by (the) gift, potential and promise they possessed and to give them the opportunity to flourish.
"And who could forget that Wimbledon moment in the ladies' final with Jana Novotna. When questioned by the press about the embrace, Katharine simply said 'we are human you know, it's what you do when someone needs comfort'.
Katharine, the wife of the late Queen’s cousin the Duke of Kent, died peacefully at home, surrounded by her family, on the evening of September 4 aged 92.
A devout follower of the Roman Catholic faith, the duchess became the first member of the royal family to convert to Catholicism for more than 300 years, doing so in 1994, and it was her wish to have her funeral at Westminster Cathedral.
The Duchess of York’s coffin is a wicker construction made from English willow and is draped with the royal standard which has a white ermine border signifying she was the spouse of a prince.
A large wreath of British garden flowers, chosen by the duchess’s family, was placed on top of the coffin and includes white roses, the symbol of Yorkshire, the county where she was born, and sprigs of yew from the gardens of Hovingham Hall, the duchess’s childhood home, representing eternal life.
Soldiers from The Royal Dragoon Guards have played an important role during her Catholic funeral, which traditionally runs over two days, with a piper leading the funeral cortege and other soldiers carrying the coffin into the cathedral when it arrived on Monday evening.
Following the funeral, the duchess' coffin was to be taken to the royal burial ground at Frogmore on the royal estate surrounding Windsor Castle.
The Duke of York was seen talking with his brother the King on the steps of Westminster Cathedral following the service.
It was the first royal funeral at the cathedral, in Victoria, central London, since its construction in 1903.
The King is not the first monarch to have attended a Catholic funeral, as Queen Elizabeth II attended the Catholic state funeral of King Baudouin of the Belgians, at St Michael’s Cathedral in Brussels, in August 1993.
Charles, when Prince of Wales, went to Pope John Paul II’s funeral, representing his mother the late Queen, in 2005, while his son William attended Pope Francis’s funeral mass earlier this year.
