He told America’s Today programme: “We’ll never have a monarch who serves for 70 years again… I just want to be in London, I want to experience it. I think I really want to participate in his ceremony. “ Smith said his mother planned to attend Monday’s funeral service in person, but he wasn’t sure if she would join her. “I might watch it in my local pub, with a group of friends,” he said. Latest: UK to observe two minutes’ silence for funeral – as queue to see Queen stretches four miles The Northampton-born actor played Prince Philip in 20 episodes of Netflix’s The Crown between 2016 and 2017. “I really fell in love with Philip to be honest,” she told Today. Smith said he had heard the Queen used to watch the show “apparently on a Sunday night projector” but that Philip “definitely didn’t”. He described how a friend had once sat next to Philip at a dinner party and worked up the courage to ask him if he was watching the series, to which he replied: “Don’t be ridiculous!” It seems Prince Harry also couldn’t resist a joke about Smith’s royal role when he met him at a polo match. “He was shaking me and he went ‘Grandpa’!” said Smith. As the nation prepares for an unprecedented national moment on Monday morning, the queue to see the Queen lie in state is now past Tower Bridge – around four miles from Westminster. The sunbed is open 24 hours a day until 6.30am. on the day of the funeral. Image: Watch and watch the Queen’s funeral on TV, web and apps on Monday from 9am
