Prince Andrew paid tribute on Sunday to his late father, Prince Philip, who called him “the grandfather of the nation”, and noted the “great void” his death has left for widow Queen Elizabeth II.
“He was a remarkable man,” the 61-year-old prince told reporters of his father’s scandal, who died Friday at the age of 99.
“I loved him as a father. He was so calm. … He was always someone you could go to and always listened to, ”Andrew said as he left a special service at the Royal Chapel in Windsor Great Park.
“We’ve almost lost the nation’s grandfather,” he said.
Andrew, who has for the most part been left out of focus since he was abandoned for royal duties for his ties to the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, said his mother, the 94-year-old queen, remained “stoic”.
“I feel very sorry and I sympathize with my mother who feels it, I think it’s probably more than the rest,” she said.
“He described that he had left a huge void in his life.”
In a possible excavation of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, Andrew added, “We, the family, those close by, come together to make sure we are there to support him.”
Andrew’s younger brother, Prince Edward, said the family “was still trying to agree” with the loss “very, very sad”.
“It simply came to our notice then. No matter how hard you try to prepare for something like this, it is still a terrible shock, “he said of his father, who spent a month in hospital during which he underwent heart surgery that year.
Edward said the huge spectacle of mourning and public support showed that Philip “could have been our father, grandfather, father-in-law, but he meant a lot to so many other people.”