It was an honour to attend the beautiful and moving funeral service for Princess Lilian, at Slottskyrkan on Saturday.
It was a service with a strong British flavour, with the Palace Choir singing Vaughan Williams’ For All the Saints and a wonderful choral arrangement of Parry’s Jerusalem.
The congregation sang Abide with Me (in English) and Amazing Grace (in Swedish). At the end a lone piper played Auld Lang Syne in the hushed chapel.
Representatives of the British community, including from societies of which Princess Lilian was patron, were invited to the service. Many more lined the streets of central Stockholm, with many thousands of Swedes, as the cortege made its way to the Royal burial ground north of the city. It’s clear the Princess had a special place in the hearts of people in Sweden.
Unlike my predecessors I never had the privilege of meeting Princess Lilian, but, like others, I have been moved by the story of her and Prince Bertil’s life together.
She clearly meant a great deal to many in the British community here and we plan a memorial service at the English Church in due course.