What is 'HMS Bubble'? Only 1 member of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip's closest staff can attend funeral
The funeral of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, will be held on Saturday, April 17. Because of Covid-19 restrictions, the service will be lowkey. But members of the royal family, including both Prince William and Prince Harry, are expected to be in attendance.
Because UK pandemic rules mandate that only 30 people can attend the somber ceremony, it is being speculated that the British monarch and Philip’s longtime consort Queen Elizabeth II will be sitting alone during the service.
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As per a report, the queen won't be able to have anyone within six feet of her thanks to strict rules that state anyone attending a funeral must stay at least two meters away from others if they are not part of their household. Sources have said that because the monarch lives on her own now after the death of her husband Prince Phillip, she will not be eligible to be in a "support bubble" with other members of the royal family.
Philip's private secretary, Brigadier Archie Miller-Bakewell, however, is slated to be one of the 30 attendees, and he's a member of what is called "HMS Bubble" at Windsor Castle. Therefore, the source said, he may be the only mourner allowed to sit near Elizabeth.
What is the 'HMS Bubble'?
Prince Philip and the Queen had spent most of the lockdown at Windsor Castle in England with a small group of 22 staff members, nicknamed "HMS Bubble". As per Vanity Fair, the master of the household Tony Johnstone-Burt, a former Royal Navy Officer, coined the term “HMS Bubble” in a memo to staff.
He wrote, “There are 22 royal household staff inside the bubble, and it struck me that our predicament is not dissimilar to my former life in the Royal Navy on a long overseas deployment. Indeed, the challenges that we are facing whether self-isolating alone at home, or with our close household and families, have parallels with being at sea away from home for many months, and having to deal with a sense of dislocation, anxiety, and uncertainty.”
As per the Royal editor for the UK's Hello! magazine, Emily Nash, "It was nicknamed 'HMS Bubble', which the duke is said to have found very amusing because the Cockney rhyming slang for 'Greek' is 'Bubble and Squeak', so there was an element of entertainment in that for him.”
“[The Queen] does have her 'bubble' of aides who have supported her throughout the past year in the reduced staff at Windsor," Nash said. "People like her personal dresser and close advisor Angela Kelly, who she is very close to. These are people who spend time with her day in, day out and who will be rallying around her as best they can."
As per a report, this group of people includes the Queen’s personal page Paul Whybrew, the head of the Queen's household, her private secretary Sir Edward Young, and her horse groom Terry Pendry. "These are the people she's been spending the past year within close quarters and who will remain key supports for her at this time, as well as her family of course," Nash said.
As per Anna Whitelock, a professor of the history of the monarchy at the Royal Holloway University London, while it's difficult for the Queen to have friends, longtime attendants such as her ladies-in-waiting would provide a level of support. "She has familiars -- people who know her well, people who are confidantes of sorts," she said. "Their presence is a support, but I don’t think they’ll provide the deep emotional support."