Mike Tindall reveals heartbreaking experience of not being able to ‘support’ Queen after Prince Philip’s funeral

Mike Tindall has shared heartbreaking new details about Prince Philip's funeral, which was held under strict Covid-19 guidelines. 

• Mike Tindall has shared heartbreaking details about Prince Philip's funeral on April 17. 
• As husband to Zara Tindall, the granddaughter of the Queen and Prince Philip, Mike was one of the few guests to attend the lowkey funeral service at Windsor Castle. 
• In other royal news, the Queen’s palace staff use this ingenious trick to prevent her being poisoned.
  

Mike Tindall has shared some heartbreaking details about Prince Philip's funeral, which took place under strict social distancing guidelines. 

The husband of Zara Tindall, granddaughter of the Queen and the late Duke of Edinburgh, was one of the 30 guests allowed to attend the military service at Windsor Castle on April 17. 

The sombre ceremony, which was conducted by the Dean of Windsor in St. George's Chapel, lasted just 50 minutes and was completely closed to the public. 

Mike Tindall, a businessman and retired rugby player, opened up about the sad day in an appearance on today's episode of Good Morning Britain, describing the difficulties mourners were faced with due to guidelines regarding Covid-19. 

Speaking with Ben Shepherd and Kate Garraway, he revealed what exactly happened after the funeral service ended. 

"After the funeral, it was sort of like, 'You all need to leave,' so you didn't even get to have that supportive side afterwards," he said.

Mourners were seated separately from one another in adherence to social distancing protocol, with only families from the same household allowed to congregate together. 

The Queen, who celebrated her 95th birthday on April 21, was pictured looking solitary sitting alone in the pews of the 14th-century church as she bid a final farewell to her late husband. The poignant image prompted an outpouring of sympathy for the bereft monarch, as well as plenty of commendations for her staunch display of self-reliance. 

Mike praised the Queen's stoicism in the face of such grief, but admitted he found it difficult to watch. "I think that's just what she does, she just leads by example, and it was just...You say amazing to see but I didn't really want to see it. But everyone's seen it now," he said. 

The former sportsman also lauded the organization of the funeral, calling the entire event 'exceptional.' He was particularly impressed by the touching tribute to Prince Philip's passion for horses, recalling the lineup of "carriage ponies and the gloves and the sugar cube box." 

Mike, who shared a candid photograph of Prince Philip and great-granddaughter, Mia on the day of his funeral, went on to add that the late duke would have likely been pleased with the 'lowkey' nature of his sendoff. 

"If he was looking down...he probably would have been a bit more happy with that, even though the rest of us would have probably liked it to be a bit more of a celebration. But that's the man that he was."