The reason Prince Andrew walked with the Queen at Prince Philip's memorial

queen prince andrew

This week marked a major event for the royal family as it was Prince Philip's memorial service at Westminster Abbey, help almost a year to the day after the royal consort's passing.

At the service, The Queen paid tribute to her late husband with her outfit, Kate Middleton told Princess Charlotte this sweet thing to comfort her and Princess Beatrice broke the rules in this subtle way.

One moment that made the most headlines was of course Prince Andrew's attendance. The Queen apparently decided at the last minute that he should come, but what role he would play wasn't clear.

According to the official program, he was meant to walk down the aisle with his daughters, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, however this changed on the day.

Instead, he arrived with his mother and walked her down the aisle instead, before taking his seat on the front row, next to his brother Prince Edward and his family.

The Queen took her place on the front row in the aisle opposite, next to Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla.

According to various media outlets, this was a decision made by The Queen herself. A source told The Telegraph, 'As the Queen herself has often said: "Sometimes people need to remember I have four children. We are a family"'.

Meanwhile, this apparently didn't sit well with Prince Charles and Prince William, with the Mirror reporting that they were 'absolutely united' and thought it was 'simply unnecessary' for Andrew to position himself as the only person to escort the Queen to church.

One palace source said: 'Both the Prince of Wales and Duke of Cambridge reluctantly accepted that he (Prince Andrew) would travel with the Queen to the Abbey as they both live in Windsor. It was arguably palatable if simply down to logistics, but it goes without saying that most of the family were absolutely dismayed to see him walking the Queen up the aisle in full view of the entire congregation and broadcast cameras.'

The Queen herself wasn't confirmed to attend until the very last minute due to health problems linked to a back injury.

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.