'Deeply Grateful' Prince Charles Speaks After Worldwide Messages of Support

A grief-stricken Prince Charles has spoken out following the outpouring of support the royal family has received in the wake of the death of his father, Prince Philip.

The AP reports that Charles, speaking from his home of Highgrove in southeastern England, said, “My dear Papa was a very special person who I think, above all else, would have been amazed by the reaction and the touching things that have been said about him. And from that point of view we are, my family, deeply grateful for all that. It will sustain us in this particular loss and at this particularly sad time.”

It was a rare emotional display for the normally reserved man, who has also been socked with a high-profile family squabble that saw his younger son, Prince Harry, leave his royal duties to live in America with his wife Meghan Markle.

Harry and Meghan, who is biracial, had used an Oprah Winfrey sit-down to publicly accuse the royal family of being unwelcoming toward Meghan, and related a story about someone in the family worrying aloud about how dark their son Archie's skin color might be when he was born.

The couple later confirmed the person who made the racist remark was neither Queen Elizabeth nor Prince Philip, who himself had a history of racially insensitive comments.

On the same day that Charles spoke out about the loss of his father, it was confirmed that Harry, who is thought to be on the outs with his family in the wake of the tell-all interview, will indeed fly to London for a private family funeral for Philip on April 17. Meghan presumably would have gone, but as she is greatly pregnant with their second child — a girl — her doctor has advised against travel.

The AP reported earlier on Saturday that Harry will be among family members at the "royal ceremonial funeral" at Windsor Castle. The service will be historically scaled down in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and will be "entirely closed to the public."

The funeral was said to have been planned, in part, by Philip himself, who died Friday at 99, just weeks after emerging from a month-long hospital stay that had included minor surgery.

He also reportedly helped design a modified Land Rover that will carry his body.