UK military prepares for big role in Prince Philip's funeral

British soldiers, sailors and air force personnel were making final preparations Friday for Prince Philip's funeral, a martial but personal service that will mark the passing of a royal patriarch who was also one of the dwindling number of veterans of World War II.

More than 700 military personnel are set to take part in Saturday’s funeral ceremony at Windsor Castle, including army bands, Royal Marine buglers and an honor guard drawn from across the armed forces.

But coronavirus restrictions mean that instead of the 800 mourners included in the funeral plans before Philip's death last week, there will be only 30 inside St. George’s Chapel, including the widowed Queen Elizabeth II and her four children.

Andre and Stan Walker lay a floral wreath for Prince Philip outside Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, Friday, April 16, 2021. Prince Philip husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II died April 9, aged 99, his funeral will take place Saturday at Windsor Castle in St George's Chapel. (AP PhotoAlastair Grant)

Philip, who died April 9 at age 99, was closely involved in planning his funeral, an event which will reflect his Royal Navy service and lifelong military ties - and his love of the rugged Land Rover Defender. Philip drove several versions of the four-wheel-drive vehicle for decades until he was forced to give up his license at 97 after a crash. His body will be borne to the chapel on a modified Land Rover that he designed himself, painted military green and with an open back to carry a coffin.

He and the queen's children - Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward - will walk behind the hearse. So will grandsons Prince William and Prince Harry, although not side by side. The brothers, whose relationship has been strained amid Harry’s decision to quit royal duties and move to California, will flank their cousin Peter Phillips, the son of Princess Anne.

The moment is likely to stir memories of the image of William and Harry at 15 and 12, walking behind their mother Princess Diana’s coffin in 1997, accompanied by their grandfather Philip.

A wreath laid by Andre and Stan Walker for Prince Philip outside Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, Friday, April 16, 2021. Prince Philip husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II died April 9, aged 99, his funeral will take place Saturday at Windsor Castle in St George's Chapel. (AP PhotoAlastair Grant)

Armed forces bands will play hymns and classical music before the funeral service, Inside the chapel, Royal Marine buglers will sound “Action Stations,” an alarm that alerts sailors to prepare for battle. Philip spent almost 14 years in the Royal Navy and saw action in the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean and Pacific during World War II.

Gen. Nick Carter, the head of Britain’s armed forces, said the ceremony would “reflect military precision and above all, I think, it will be a celebration of a life well-lived.”

“It will also show, I think, how much the armed forces loved and respected him,” Carter told the BBC. “The military always have a great respect for people who have their values and standards and who indeed have shown great courage, and I think that, when we look back at his war record, that sense of courage and what he did is something all of us have great admiration for.”

A man lays bunch of flowers in tribute to Prince Philip outside Windsor Castle In Windsor, England, Friday, April 16, 2021. Prince Philip husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II died April 9, aged 99, his funeral will take place Saturday at Windsor Castle in St George's Chapel. (AP PhotoAlastair Grant)

Along with Philip's children and grandchildren, the 30 funeral guests include other senior royals and several of is German relatives. Philip was born a prince of Greece and Denmark and, like the queen, is related to a thicket of European royal families.

Mourners have been instructed to wear masks and observe social distancing inside the chapel, and not to join in when a four-person choir sings hymns. The queen, who has spent much of the past year isolating with her husband at Windsor Castle, will sit alone.

In a break with custom, members of the royal family who have served in the armed forces or have ceremonial military appointments will wear civilian clothes to the funeral.

A knitted top cover for a post box depicting Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip is exposed in Windsor, England, Friday, April 16, 2021. Prince Philip husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II died April 9, aged 99, his funeral will take place Saturday at Windsor Castle in St George's Chapel. The knitted top show some of Prince Philips favourite things, the Royal Yacht Britannia, right, the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme for young people and his hobby of carriage driving . (AP PhotoAlastair Grant)

The decision, signed off by the queen, means that Harry won’t risk being the only member of the royal family not in uniform. Harry lost his honorary military titles after he gave up frontline royal duties last year. As a result, protocol suggested 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 has been sidelined from royal duties because of scandal around his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

For AP’s full coverage of the death of Prince Philip go to https://apnews.com/hub/prince-philip

Memorabilia mugs showing a photograph of Britain's Prince Philip on sale at a shop in Windsor, England, Friday, April 16, 2021. Prince Philip husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II died April 9, aged 99, his funeral will take place Saturday at Windsor Castle in St George's Chapel. (AP PhotoAlastair Grant)

A knitted top cover for a post box depicting Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip in Windsor, England, Friday, April 16, 2021. Prince Philip husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II died April 9, aged 99, his funeral will take place Saturday at Windsor Castle in St George's Chapel. The knitted top show some of Prince Philips favorites: the Royal Yacht Britannia, right, the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme for young people and his hobby of carriage driving . (AP PhotoAlastair Grant)

A knitted top cover for a post box depicting Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip in Windsor, England, Friday, April 16, 2021. Prince Philip husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II died April 9, aged 99, his funeral will take place Saturday at Windsor Castle in St George's Chapel. The knitted top show some of Prince Philips favorites: the Royal Yacht Britannia, right, the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme for young people and his hobby of carriage driving . (AP PhotoAlastair Grant)

Armed police guard the King Henry VII gate as a groundsman mows the grass outside St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, Friday, April 16, 2021. Prince Philip husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II died April 9, aged 99, his funeral will take place Saturday at Windsor Castle in St George's Chapel. (AP PhotoAlastair Grant)

The Jaguar Land Rover that will be used to transport the coffin of the Duke of Edinburgh at his funeral on Saturday, is pictured at Windsor Castle, in Berkshire, England, Wednesday, April 14, 2021. The modified Land Rover Defender TD5 130 chassis cab vehicle was made at Land Rover's factory in Solihull in 2003 and Philip oversaw the modifications throughout the intervening years, requesting a repaint in military green and designing the open top rear and special "stops" to secure his coffin in place. (Steve ParsonsPool Photo via AP)

Five years ago, video images from a Minneapolis street showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd as his life slipped away ignited a social movement.

Now, videos from another Minneapolis street showing the last moments of Renee Good's life are central to another debate about law enforcement in America. They've slipped out day by day since ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot Good last Wednesday in her maroon SUV. Yet compared to 2020, the story these pictures tell is murkier, subject to manipulation both within the image itself and the way it is interpreted.

This time, too, the Trump administration and its supporters went to work establishing their own public view of the event before the inevitable imagery appeared.

But half a decade later, so many things are not the same — from cultural attitudes to rapidly evolving technology around all kinds of imagery.

“We are in a different time,” said Francesca Dillman Carpentier, a University of North Carolina journalism professor and expert on the media's impact on audiences.

No one who saw the searing video of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin with his knee on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes on May 25, 2020, is likely to forget it — and Chauvin's impassive face Floyd insisted he couldn't breathe. United in revulsion, demonstrators began one of the nation's largest-ever social movements. Chauvin was convicted of murder.

The footage “caused many individuals to experience an epiphany about racism, specifically cultural racism, in the United States,” legal scholar Angela Onwuachi-Willig wrote in a Houston Law Review study that examined whether white Americans experienced a collective cultural trauma.

She eventually concluded that didn't happen and that the impact diminished with time. The rollback of diversity programs with the second Trump administration offers evidence for her argument.

“The people who are writing the cultural narrative of the Good shooting took notes from the Floyd killing and are managing this narrative differently,” said Kelly McBride, an expert on media ethics for the Poynter Institute.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem labeled Good, who was demonstrating in opposition to ICE enforcement of immigration laws, a domestic terrorist — an interpretation that Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey dismissed with an expletive. Both President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance suggested the shooting was justified because Good was trying to run Ross down with her vehicle.

On the night of the killing, White House border czar Tom Homan was cautious in an interview with the “CBS Evening News” when anchor Tony Dokoupil showed him the most widely distributed video of the incident, taken by a bystander and posted by a reporter for the Minnesota Reformer. The veteran law enforcement official said it would be unprofessional for him to prejudge before an investigation.

Later that evening, Homan issued a statement calling the shooting “another example of the results of the hateful rhetoric and violent attacks” against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol officers.

Video of the incident has been generally inconclusive about whether Good's vehicle actually hit Ross before he opened fire. Even if she did, many experts question whether that represented grounds for firing his weapon. Clearly, however, that would bolster public sympathy for the officer.

“These ICE videos do present irrefutable facts — a woman drove her car and then she was shot dead by an ICE agent,” said Duy Linh Tu, a documentarian and professor at the Columbia University journalism school. “What the videos can't show is the intent of the woman or the officer. And that's the tricky part.”

Good, obviously, can’t speak to what motivated her to put her SUV in drive and move on Portland Avenue South.

Several news organizations have carefully examined the forensic evidence that has emerged. The Associated Press wrote that it was unclear if Good's car made contact with Ross. The Washington Post wrote that “videos examined by The Post, including one shared on Truth Social by Trump, do not clearly show whether the agent is struck or how close the front of the vehicle comes to striking him.”

The New York Times said that “in one video, it looks like the agent is being struck by the SUV. But when we synchronize it with the first clip, we can see the agent is not being run over.”

Video that emerged Friday from the Minnesota site Alpha News showed the incident from Ross' perspective. It, too, left many questions and no shortage of people willing to answer them.

Vance linked to the video online and wrote: “Many of you have been told this law enforcement officer wasn't hit by a car, wasn't being harassed and murdered an innocent woman. The reality is that his life was endangered and he fired in self-defense.”

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer wrote online that “how could anyone on the planet watch this video and conclude what JD Vance says?” Schumer said the administration “is lying to you.”

When one online commentator wrote that Good did not deserve to be shot in the face, conservative media figure Megyn Kelly responded, “Yes, she did. She hit and almost ran over a cop.”

Poynter’s McBride said the media has generally done a good and careful job outlining the evidence that is circulating around in the public. But the administration has also been effective in spreading its interpretation, she said.

There are more camera angles available now than there was with Floyd, but “I don't know if that adds clarity or more fog to this case,” Tu said. “I think that people will see what they want to see. Or, rather, they'll pick the angle that aligns with what they already believe.”

That nagging sense of uncertainty left by the videos leaves experts like Tu and Carpentier to conclude they will pale in impact compared to the Floyd case. With each passing year, the public is becoming more desensitized to images of violence — as the online spread of footage showing Republican activist Charlie Kirk illustrated, she said.

The spread of AI-enhanced fake images is also teaching the public to question what it sees, she said. Before Ross was identified, BBC Verify said false images were being spread online speculating about what the masked agent looked like, and fake video of a Minneapolis demonstration spread.

“Now you can't believe what you're seeing,” Carpentier said. “You don't know if what you're seeing is the real video or if it has been doctored. I don't think AI is being a friend in this case at all.”

David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.

Federal immigration officers make an arrest as bystanders film the incident Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Bystanders film a federal immigration officer in their car Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)