Duke of Edinburgh pubs unable to give Philip a proper send-off

Two proprietors of pubs named the Duke of Edinburgh have expressed their sadness at not being able to do more to mourn his death.

Annie Andrews, landlady of the Duke of Edinburgh in Winkfield in Windsor, said events to mark the duke’s death would have to be limited because of Covid-19 restrictions.

Ms Andrews had been searching for the bunting the pub uses for royal events when she spoke to the PA news agency.

“We will be doing toasts to him in the garden and things like that but we have to try and keep the space between people,” she said.

“We had a big celebration for Harry and Meghan’s wedding and when William and Kate got married, and when the Queen had her jubilee.

“We were planning a big do for Philip’s 100th birthday.”

Ms Andrews said the pub was named after one of Queen Victoria’s sons, but that she and her family always thought of it as a monument to Philip.

“I’m a Windsor girl, born and bred, and the royal family has always been very important to me and we always do things to mark the events in the monarchy’s history,” she said.

She recalled attending school close to the Long Walk in Windsor, particularly lining up to watch the royal carriage go by as the Queen and her family headed for Ascot.

Ms Andrews said: “So it’s going to be a small event this time, but we will definitely be doing something to mark the Queen’s birthday and it is 10 years since William and Kate got married.”

Elsewhere, the Duke of Edinburgh in Swindon cannot mark Philip’s death because it does not have a beer garden.

The pub will not be able to open until late May as it only has a carpark.

Landlady Alison Thompson said: “Sadly there’s not much we can do at the moment apart from putting some posters in the window, but we are going to have a talk about what we can do this afternoon.”

She added: “Sadly we can’t open until late May, otherwise we would have certainly done something.”

Mark Miller, landlord of the Duke of Edinburgh in Hull, said the pub would have put its flags out and offered reduced price drinks to mark Philip’s death.

The pub only has a small garden, and is opening for a week’s trial run from Monday to see if it gets enough customers to make opening viable.

“If it had been normal circumstances we would have done something but when we’re only allowed customers outside, we don’t know who we’re expecting or how many,” Mr Miller said.

“The Duke of Edinburgh doesn’t have much outdoor space.”

Hull has been experiencing very chilly weather in the past few days, including snow and rain.

Mr Miller continued: “After June, when all the restrictions are lifted, then certainly we can think about doing something then.”

“We would have had the flags out, we would have looked at reducing pricing on the day (of the duke’s death) to about £2 a pint and we would have shown the funeral.”

When asked about how he felt about the duke’s death, he replied: “Well at 99 he had a good run.

“He’s certainly done his bit for Queen and country.”