Buckingham Palace released a photo Saturday giving the first public glimpse of the new ledger stone installed at the final resting place of Queen Elizabeth II. The image shows the hand-carved Belgian black marble slab with brass letter inlays set into the floor of King George VI Memorial Chapel, St. George’s Chapel, at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England. Surrounded by floral wreaths and bouquets, it is inscribed with her name and the years of her birth and death, alongside those of her father, George VI; her mother, Elizabeth; and her husband, Philip, who died last year. It replaces a previous slab that had only her parents. All four royals were members of the Order of the Garter, which has St. George’s Chapel as its spiritual home. The release came ahead of the queen’s burial site opening to visitors next week as Windsor Castle reopens to the public. Elizabeth was laid to rest together with the Duke of Edinburgh on Monday evening in a private service attended by King Charles III and other members of the royal family, following her state funeral at Westminster Abbey and committal service in Windsor.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday attended a reception hosted by Britain's King Charles III at Buckingham Palace with other world leaders. King Charles and his wife Queen Consort Camilla hosted the reception for the presidents, prime ministers, and monarchs from around the world. Hasina was accompanied by her younger sister Sheikh Rehana. Read: PM tells BBC: Free, fair elections are held only during AL’s tenure Around 500 guests attended the reception. New King Charles, joined by Queen Consort Camilla, hosted world leaders, foreign royals and dignitaries who have travelled to Britain for the state funeral on Monday. Other members of the Royal Family including Prince William, Kate, Prince Edward, Sophie Wessex, Princess Anne, her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester also attended the event. Read: PM to leave London Monday after attending Queen Elizabeth’s funeral Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK Saida Muna Tasneem while briefing the reporters said that the premier had a long parley with the new King and the Queen Consort. She said that they remembered the late Queen Elizabeth. Muna said, the prime minister said that Queen Elizabeth was not onLy the mother of the new King Charles, she was also a mother-like figure to her. Read: “It seems a guardian is gone”: PM pays last respect to Queen Elizabeth II Hasina congratulated the new King. Muna said the King and the Queen Consort both expressed regrets  that their scheduled visit to Bangladesh in October has to be postponed.  The high commissioner quoted Camilla as saying that she had a plan to visit Sylhet and the Sundarbans. Read Buckingham Palace calling: King Charles thanks PM Hasina, wishes Bangladeshis well She said that Bangladesh prime minister exchanged greetings with her counterparts of the UK, Canada and New Zealand, Queen of the Netherlands, Presidents of India and Nepal, and other world leaders. Earlier on Sunday morning,  Hasina along with her younger sister Rehana went to the Palace of Westminster to pay their last respect to the late Queen where the body of Elizabeth II was kept in the lying-in-state. Hasina arrived in London on an official visit to the United Kingdom on September 15 to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Read When Bollywood actor Padmini Kolhapure kissed King Charles

Queen Elizabeth II stepped gingerly onto the Buckingham Palace balcony Thursday, drawing wild cheers from the tens of thousands who came to join her at the start of four days of celebrations of her 70 years on the throne. Her fans sported Union Jack flags, party hats or plastic tiaras. Some had camped overnight in hopes of glimpsing the 96-year-old queen, whose appearances are becoming rare, and a chance to watch the Trooping the Color — a military parade that has marked each sovereign’s official birthday since 1760. It was an explosion of joy in the massive crowd, one of the first big gatherings in the U.K. since the COVID-19 pandemic began. “Everybody has got the same mission,” said Hillary Mathews, 70, who had come from Hertfordshire, outside London. “All the horrors that’s been going on in the world and in England at the moment are put behind us for a day, and we can just enjoy really celebrating the queen.” Elizabeth, who became queen at 25, is Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and the first to reach the milestone of seven decades on the throne. Also read: Not just any cake: A Bollywood homage to queen for Jubilee Yet after a lifetime of good health, age has begun to catch up with her. Buckingham Palace announced late Thursday that the queen would not attend a thanksgiving church service Friday after experiencing “some discomfort” at events on Thursday. The palace said with “great reluctance” the monarch has decided to skip the service at St. Paul’s Cathedral. The queen has had trouble moving around in recent months, and has pulled out of many public events. But Elizabeth took part Thursday night in lighting a chain of ceremonial beacons at Windsor Castle as planned. The Jubilee celebrations go on for a long weekend, and it was not immediately known how the news would affect Jubilee events on Saturday and Sunday. The palace says “the queen greatly enjoyed" Thursday's events — and it showed. She basked in her moment. Smiling, she chatted with her great-grandson Prince Louis, 4, who occasionally covered his ears as 70 military aircraft old and new swooped low over the palace to salute the queen. The six-minute display included a formation of Typhoon fighter jets flying in the shape of the number 70. The queen, wearing a dusky dove blue dress designed by Angela Kelly, was joined on the balcony by more than a dozen royals — though not Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, who gave up front-line royal duties two years ago. The couple traveled to London from their home in California with their two young children to take a low-key part in the celebrations, and watched Thursday’s Trooping the Color with other members of the family. They did not appear on the palace balcony, because the monarch decided that only working members of the royal family should have that honor. The decision also, handily, excluded Prince Andrew, who stepped away from public duties amid controversy over his links with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew will also miss Friday's service of thanksgiving after testing positive for COVID-19. The jubilee is being commemorated with a four-day holiday extravaganza and events including a concert at Buckingham Palace on Saturday and a pageant staged by thousands of performers drawn from schools and community groups around the country on Sunday. Thousands of street parties are planned nationwide, repeating a tradition that began with the queen’s coronation in 1953. Also read: Queen Elizabeth II’s extraordinary life and reign Not everyone in Britain is celebrating. Many people have taken advantage of the long weekend to go on vacation. And 12 protesters were arrested Thursday after getting past barriers and onto the parade route. The group Animal Rebellion claimed responsibility, saying the protesters were “demanding that royal land is reclaimed.” Yet the jubilee is giving many people — even those indifferent to the monarchy — a chance to reflect on the state of the nation and the huge changes that have taken place during Elizabeth’s reign. Former Prime Minister John Major, one of the 14 prime ministers during the queen’s reign, said the monarch’s stoic presence had helped steer the country over the decades. “The queen has represented our better selves for over 70 years,” he told the BBC. In a written jubilee message, the queen thanked people in Britain and across the Commonwealth involved in organizing the celebrations. This country does like a good party. “I know that many happy memories will be created at these festive occasions,” Elizabeth said. “I continue to be inspired by the goodwill shown to me, and hope that the coming days will provide an opportunity to reflect on all that has been achieved during the last 70 years, as we look to the future with confidence and enthusiasm.” Congratulations arrived from world leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden and Pope Francis. French President Emmanuel Macron called Elizabeth “the golden thread that binds our two countries” and former President Barack Obama recalled the queen’s “grace and generosity” during his first visit to the palace. “Your life has been a gift, not just to the United Kingdom but to the world,” Obama told the BBC “May the light of your crown continue to reign supreme.” Cheers and the clop of hooves rang out Thursday as horse-drawn carriages carried members of the royal family, including Prince William’s wife, Kate, and their children Prince George, 8, Princess Charlotte, 7, and 4-year-old Prince Louis, from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade, a ceremonial parade ground about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) away, for the Trooping the Color ceremony. The annual tradition is a ceremonial reenactment of the way battle flags, or colors, were once displayed for soldiers to make sure they would recognize a crucial rallying point if they became disoriented in combat. Prince Charles, the 73-year-old heir to the throne, played a key role during the event Thursday as he stood in for his mother — as he has more and more of late. Clad in his ceremonial military uniform, Charles rode onto the parade ground on horseback and took the salute of the passing troops in their scarlet tunics and bearskin hats. He was flanked by his sister, Princess Anne, and oldest son Prince William. Tens of thousands of locals and tourists lined the route between palace and parade ground to take in the spectacle and the atmosphere. “I was right at the front ... I’m very proud of the queen,″ said Celia Lourd, 60. "She’s been my queen all my life and I think we owe her an awful lot for the service she’s given to the country. So I wanted to come to show my support today and say thank you.”

Prince William and Prince Harry won’t walk side-by-side Saturday as they follow their grandfather’s coffin into the church ahead of Prince Philip’s funeral, minimizing the chances of any awkward moments between the brothers who are grappling with strained relations since Harry’s decision to step away from royal duties last year. Buckingham Palace on Thursday released the broad outlines of the funeral program for Queen Elizabeth II’s husband, who died April 9 at 99. The palace revealed that William and Harry’s cousin, Peter Phillips, will walk between the princes as they escort the coffin to St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, west of London. Prince Charles, the heir to the throne and the father of the princes, together with his sister, Princess Anne, will lead the 15-member procession. The brothers had been closely watched as Saturday’s funeral will almost certainly remind the pair of their shared grief at another royal funeral more than two decades ago. As young boys, both walked behind their mother Princess Diana’s coffin in 1997 in London in a ceremony watched around the world. Also read: Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, dies aged 99 Palace officials refused to comment when asked whether the positioning of William and Harry was an effort to minimize family tensions, which have grown after Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, gave an explosive interview to Oprah Winfrey that suggested an unnamed member of the royal family had made a racist comment to Harry before the birth of their child Archie. Meghan, who is pregnant and living in California with Harry, is not coming to the funeral on the advice of her doctor.  “We’re not going to be drawn into those perceptions of drama or anything like that,” a palace spokesman said while speaking on condition of anonymity in line with policy. “This is a funeral and the arrangements have been agreed and they represent Her Majesty’s wishes.” In another effort to preserve family unity, the palace said senior royals would wear civilian clothes to the funeral. The decision, signed off by the queen, means that Harry won’t risk being the only member of the royal family not in uniform during the funeral. Members of the royal family often wear uniforms to public events by virtue of their honorary roles with the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, but Harry lost his honorary military titles when he decided to give up frontline royal duties last year. As a result, protocol suggests that Harry, an army veteran who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan, would only wear a suit with medals at royal functions. The decision also sidesteps another potential controversy after reports that Prince Andrew, the queen’s second-oldest son, considered wearing an admiral’s uniform to his father’s funeral. Andrew retains his military titles even though he was forced to step away from royal duties after a disastrous interview with the BBC about his acquaintance with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Also read: AP PHOTOS: Prince Philip's lifetime in the royal spotlight Attendance at the funeral will be limited to 30 people because of the coronavirus restrictions in England. The list will include several of Philip’s relatives from Germany, together with immediate members of the royal family. The children in the family will not attend. Guests will wear masks inside the chapel and observe social distancing. The queen, always the first to set an example, will also wear a mask. In other details released about the funeral, Royal Marine buglers will play “Action Stations,” an alarm that alerts sailors to prepare for battle. Philip, also known as the Duke of Edinburgh, served in the Royal Navy for 12 years and maintained close ties to the armed forces throughout his life. Military personnel will have a large role in honoring him Saturday despite the attendance limit. Members of the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, the Royal Air Force and the British Army will take part in the funeral procession. Philip’s coffin will be carried to St. George’s Chapel on a specially adapted Land Rover that he designed himself. On Thursday, Charles and his wife Camilla visited Marlborough House in central London to see a sea of floral tributes for Philip, which have been moved there from the gates of Buckingham Palace. Also read: Too much? BBC gets complaints over Prince Philip coverage The couple spent some time looking at the cards and notes with the flowers. The items left in tribute included a model of a Land Rover similar to the one that will bear Philip’s coffin on Saturday, with the words “The Duke R.I.P” on the roof.

BNP and on Friday expressed deep shock over the death of British Queen Elizabeth’s husband Prince Philip. In a condolence message, the party said, “Not only Britain but also the entire world, especially the Commonwealth countries, lost a tested friend at the demise of Prince Philip.” It said the people of the UK have lost a guardian who gave Queen Elizabeth the full support and strength in performing her responsibilities. “In his personal life, Philip was a very polite, humble, cordial and gentleman with strong morale,” the party said. It also said the Prince had worked tirelessly to make British society more tolerant, balanced and humanitarian based on justice. “Besides, Prince Philip had done much to preserve wildlife and the environment and develop the young people.” Also read: Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, dies aged 99 Expressing deep sympathy for the members of the British Royal Family and the British people, BNP prayed for the eternal peace of Philip’s departed soul. Meanwhile, Jatiya Party also expressed deep condolence at Philip's death. In a condolence message, Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader said Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was engaged in humanitarian work. “He had given encouragement and support to Queen Elizabeth’s social services throughout his life.” In another condolence message, Jatiya Party Secretary General Zaiuddin Ahmed Bablu also condoled the death of Philip. GM Quader and Bablu also prayed for the eternal peace of Price Philip’s departed soul and conveyed their sympathy to the bereaved Royal Family members. Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II's husband, died aged 99, the Buckingham Palace said on Friday.

Prince Philip, the irascible and tough-minded husband of Queen Elizabeth II who spent more than seven decades supporting his wife in a role that both defined and constricted his life, has died, Buckingham Palace said Friday. He was 99. His life spanned nearly a century of European history, starting with his birth as a member of the Greek royal family and ending as Britain’s longest serving consort during a turbulent reign in which the thousand-year-old monarchy was forced to reinvent itself for the 21st century. He was known for his occasionally racist and sexist remarks — and for gamely fulfilling more than 20,000 royal engagements to boost British interests at home and abroad. He headed hundreds of charities, founded programs that helped British schoolchildren participate in challenging outdoor adventures, and played a prominent part in raising his four children, including his eldest son, Prince Charles, the heir to the throne. Philip spent a month in hospital earlier this year before being released on March 16 to return to Windsor Castle. “It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,” the palace said. “His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle.” Philip, who was given the title Duke of Edinburgh on his wedding day, saw his sole role as providing support for his wife, who began her reign as Britain retreated from empire and steered the monarchy through decades of declining social deference and U.K. power into a modern world where people demand intimacy from their icons. In the 1970s, Michael Parker, an old navy friend and former private secretary of the prince, said of him: “He told me the first day he offered me my job, that his job — first, second and last — was never to let her down.” The queen, a very private person not given to extravagant displays of affection, once called him “her rock” in public. In private, Philip called his wife Lilibet; but he referred to her in conversation with others as “The Queen.” Over the decades, Philip’s image changed from that of handsome, dashing athlete to arrogant and insensitive curmudgeon. In his later years, the image finally settled into that of droll and philosophical observer of the times, an elderly, craggy-faced man who maintained his military bearing despite ailments. Also read: Palace: Prince Philip has infection, will stay in hospital The popular Netflix series “The Crown” gave Philip a central role, with a slightly racy, swashbuckling image. He never commented on it in public, but the portrayal struck a chord with many Britons, including younger viewers who had only known him as an elderly man. Philip’s position was a challenging one — there is no official role for the husband of a sovereign queen — and his life was marked by extraordinary contradictions between his public and private duties. He always walked three paces behind his wife in public, in a show of deference to the monarch, but he was the head of the family in private. Still, his son Charles, as heir to the throne, had a larger income, as well as access to the high-level government papers Philip was not permitted to see. Philip often took a wry approach to his unusual place at the royal table. “Constitutionally, I don’t exist,” said Philip, who in 2009 became the longest-serving consort in British history, surpassing Queen Charlotte, who married King George III in the18th century. He frequently struggled to find his place — a friction that would later be echoed in his grandson Prince Harry’s decision to give up royal duties. “There was no precedent,” he said in a rare interview with the BBC to mark his 90th birthday. “If I asked somebody, ‘What do you expect me to do?’ they all looked blank.” But having given up a promising naval career to become consort when Elizabeth became queen at age 25, Philip was not content to stay on the sidelines and enjoy a life of ease and wealth. He promoted British industry and science, espoused environmental preservation long before it became fashionable, and traveled widely and frequently in support of his many charities. In those frequent public appearances, Philip developed a reputation for being impatient and demanding and was sometimes blunt to the point of rudeness. Many Britons appreciated what they saw as his propensity to speak his mind, while others criticized behavior they labeled offensive and out of touch. In 1995, for example, he asked a Scottish driving instructor, “How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?” Seven years later in Australia, when visiting Aboriginal people with the queen, he asked: “Do you still throw spears at each other?” Also read: Prince Charles visits 99-year-old Prince Philip in hospital Many believe his propensity to speak his mind meant he provided needed, unvarnished advice to the queen. “The way that he survived in the British monarchy system was to be his own man, and that was a source of support to the queen,” said royal historian Robert Lacey. “All her life she was surrounded by men who said, ‘yes ma’am’ and he was one man who always told her how it really was, or at least how he saw it.” Lacey said at the time of the royal family’s difficult relations with Princess Diana after her marriage to Charles broke down, Philip spoke for the family with authority, showing that he did not automatically defer to the queen. Philip’s relationship with Diana became complicated as her separation from Charles and their eventual divorce played out in a series of public battles that damaged the monarchy’s standing. It was widely assumed that he was critical of Diana’s use of broadcast interviews, including one in which she accused Charles of infidelity. But letters between Philip and Diana released after her death showed that the older man was at times supportive of his daughter-in-law. After Diana’s death in a car crash in Paris in 1997, Philip had to endure allegations by former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed that he had plotted the princess’s death. Al Fayed’s son, Dodi, also died in the crash. During a lengthy inquest into their deaths, a senior judge acting as coroner instructed the jury that there was no evidence to support the allegations against Philip, who did not publicly respond to Al Fayed’s charges. Philip’s final years were clouded by controversy and fissures in the royal family. His third child, Prince Andrew, was embroiled in scandal over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, an American financier who died in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. U.S. authorities accused Andrew of rebuffing their request to interview him as a witness, and Andrew faced accusations from a woman who said that she had several sexual encounters with the prince at Epstein’s behest. He denied the claim but withdrew from public royal duties amid the scandal. At the start of 2020, Philip’s grandson Harry and his wife, the American former actress Meghan Markle, announced they were quitting royal duties and moving to North America to escape intense media scrutiny that they found unbearable. Also read: It's in the ring: Book reveals secret behind British Queen's happy marriage to Prince Philip Born June 10, 1921, on the dining room table at his parents’ home on the Greek island of Corfu, Philip was the fifth child and only son of Prince Andrew, younger brother of the king of Greece. His grandfather had come from Denmark during the 1860s to be adopted by Greece as the country’s monarch. Philip’s mother was Princess Alice of Battenberg, a descendent of German princes. Like his future wife, Elizabeth, Philip was also a great-grandchild of Queen Victoria. When Philip was 18 months old, his parents fled to France. His father, an army commander, had been tried after a devastating military defeat by the Turks. After British intervention, the Greek junta agreed not to sentence Andrew to death if he left the country. The family was not exactly poor but, Philip said: “We weren’t well off” — and they got by with help from relatives. He later brought only his navy pay to a marriage with one of the world’s richest women. Philip’s parents drifted apart when he was a child, and Andrew died in Monte Carlo in 1944. Alice founded a religious order that did not succeed and spent her old age at Buckingham Palace. A reclusive figure, often dressed in a nun’s habit, she was little seen by the British public. She died in 1969 and was posthumously honored by Britain and Israel for sheltering a Jewish family in Nazi-occupied Athens during the war. Philip went to school in Britain and entered Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth as a cadet in 1939. He got his first posting in 1940 but was not allowed near the main war zone because he was a foreign prince of a neutral nation. When the Italian invasion of Greece ended that neutrality, he joined the war, serving on battleships in the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean and the Pacific. On leave in Britain, he visited his royal cousins, and, by the end of war, it was clear he was courting Princess Elizabeth, eldest child and heir of King George VI. Their engagement was announced July 10, 1947, and they were married on Nov. 20. After an initial flurry of disapproval that Elizabeth was marrying a foreigner, Philip’s athletic skills, good looks and straight talk lent a distinct glamour to the royal family. Elizabeth beamed in his presence, and they had a son and daughter while she was still free of the obligations of serving as monarch. But King George VI died of cancer in 1952 at age 56. Philip had to give up his naval career, and his subservient status was formally sealed at the coronation, when he knelt before his wife and pledged to become “her liege man of life and limb, and of earthly worship.” The change in Philip’s life was dramatic. “Within the house, and whatever we did, it was together,” Philip told biographer Basil Boothroyd of the years before Elizabeth became queen. “People used to come to me and ask me what to do. In 1952, the whole thing changed, very, very considerably.” Said Boothroyd: “He had a choice between just tagging along, the second handshake in the receiving line, or finding other outlets for his bursting energies.” So Philip took over management of the royal estates and expanded his travels to all corners of the world, building a role for himself. From 1956, he was Patron and Chairman of Trustees for the largest youth activity program in Britain, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, a program of practical, cultural and adventurous activities for young people that exists in over 100 countries. Millions of British children have had some contact with the award and its famous camping expeditions. He painted, collected modern art, was interested in industrial design and planned a garden at Windsor Castle. But, he once said, “the arts world thinks of me as an uncultured, polo-playing clot.” In time, the famous blond hair thinned and the long, fine-boned face acquired a few lines. He gave up polo but remained trim and vigorous. To a friend’s suggestion that he ease up a bit, the prince is said to have replied, “Well, what would I do? Sit around and knit?” But when he turned 90 in 2011, Philip told the BBC he was “winding down” his workload and he reckoned he had “done my bit.” The next few years saw occasional hospital stays as Philip’s health flagged. He announced in May 2017 that he planned to step back from royal duties, and he stopped scheduling new commitments — after roughly 22,000 royal engagements since his wife’s coronation. In 2019, he gave up his driver’s license after a serious car crash. Philip is survived by the queen and their four children — Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward — as well as eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. The grandchildren are Charles’ sons, Prince William and Prince Harry; Anne’s children, Peter and Zara Phillips; Andrew’s daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie; and Edward’s children, Lady Louise and Viscount Severn. The great-grandchildren are William and Kate’s children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis; Harry and Meghan’s son, Archie; Savannah and Isla, the daughters of Peter Phillips and his wife, Autumn; Mia and Lena, the daughters of Zara Phillips and her husband, Mike Tindall; and Eugenie’s son, August, with her husband, Jack Brooksbank.

Prince William defended Britain’s monarchy Thursday against accusations of bigotry made by his brother, Prince Harry, and sister-in-law, Meghan, insisting the family is not racist.

Buckingham Palace said Tuesday that allegations of racism made earlier this week by Prince Harry and Meghan were “concerning” and would be addressed privately by the royal family.

Racism. Bullying. Insensitivity.

Buckingham Palace said Wednesday it was launching an investigation after a newspaper reported that a former aide had made a bullying allegation against the Duchess of Sussex.