Buckingham Palace recently made a very subtle change to Queen Elizabeth‘s Instagram page following Prince Philip‘s death. The Queen’s team replaced a photo of Philip and the Queen together that had long been used as the page’s profile picture with a recent photo of just Queen Elizabeth smiling. Philip died on Friday, April 9, and was laid to rest on Saturday, April 17. He was 99.
Before Philip’s death, the Royal Family‘s official Instagram page used a photo of Philip and the Queen taken at the Epsom Derby in 2016, notes The Daily Mail. After Philip’s death, Buckingham Palace swapped the photo for the royal coat of arms as a sign of respect for Philip. However, this week, the coat of arms was replaced by a photo of Queen Elizabeth taken outside MI5 headquarters at Thames House in February 2020. In the new photo, the Queen is wearing a purple hat and smiling at the camera.
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The photo change also came as the Queen celebrated her 95th birthday on Wednesday. She shared a rare personal statement to mark her birthday and to thank people around the world for sharing their condolences after Philip’s death. “While as a family we are in a period of great sadness, it has been a comfort to us all to see and to hear the tributes paid to my husband, from those within the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and around the world,” Elizabeth wrote. “My family and I would like to thank you all for the support and kindness shown to us in recent days. We have been deeply touched, and continue to be reminded that Philip had such an extraordinary impact on countless people throughout his life.”
The Queen’s birthday not only came after Philip’s death but also at a difficult time for the royal family. Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, now live in California and they opened up about the struggles they faced while living with the family in the U.K. Harry returned to the U.K. for the funeral but noticeably did not walk behind the casket next to his brother, Prince William. It was still the first time Harry and William met in person in over a year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Sources said the family put their differences behind them during the funeral.
“This trip was to honor the life of his grandfather and support his grandmother and relatives,” one source close to Harry told Harper’s Bazaar. “It was very much a family-focused period of time. Saturday broke the ice for future conversations, but outstanding issues have not been addressed at any great length. The family simply put their issues to one side to focus on what mattered.” A family friend also told PEOPLE that William and Harry being together at all was a “good start,” although there is no “quick fix” to mend the issues between them.
Before the funeral, the Queen attended a royal event on April 13. She was at the retirement ceremony for Earl Peel, the former Lord Chamberlain. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson also declared a two-week mourning period in honor of Philip, which ended on Friday.
