This time a different kind of grief for the Princes

It was an occasion that bound the nation. Yet even in the midst of all the pomp of a royal funeral, this remained a family, almost a private affair. Behind the Queen Mother's coffin walked her son-in-law, four grandsons, three great grandsons, her granddaughter, her nephews and cousins.

They had all laughed with her, played with her, holidayed with her and revelled in the warmth of her personality.

Now they had come to honour her. In the first row behind the coffin was Prince Charles in his uniform of Rear Admiral, behind him Prince William smartly dressed in a sombre suit. They are the two men who carry all her hopes for the future.

She had faced the challenges of monarchy and overcome them. They still have to confront theirs.

For Charles it was a dreadful day and his grief was obvious to the silent crowds lining the route that bore her coffin from St James's Palace to Westminster Hall.

Prince William too was clearly moved by the solemnity of the occasion. He is still young with all the resilience that is the prerogative of youth. But William, straight-backed, has grown in stature and confidence as if prepared for the burdens that await him. Yet both could draw strength from the reaction of the people around them. The world has changed beyond all recognition since the Queen Mother joined the royal family 70 years ago.

The royal family is no longer the unquestioned centrepiece of national life. But it was, once again on this day and you could almost feel the crowd willing them on as they slowly marched to the heartbeat rhythm of the drums. It is a route of course that William and Harry have walked before. It was only five years ago that they followed another coffin down these roads.

That time it was the funeral of their mother, Princess Diana. Then the family was at war - with itself and for a brief moment with many of its subjects. How different from today. Then Prince Charles, as he later admitted, could feel the anger in the multitude. Today all he could sense was an outpouring of sympathy and good will.

Prince Harry too could feel it. The last few months have been trying for the 17-year-old prince, but if ever there was a moment when he could see where his responsibilities lay it is now as he walked down The Mall and into Horse Guards Parade past people standing ten deep to pay homage to a family that, like no other, represents their hopes and their sense of national decency.

Let us not forget Peter Phillips, Viscount Linley, Prince Edward, Prince Andrew and of course the Princess Royal. They too belonged to the Queen Mother's maternal embrace.

They too share the family's deep sense of loss. Princess Anne once admitted that in her youth, unlike her brother Prince Charles, she had never really appreciated her grandmother.

But like everybody else she had grown to recognise her extraordinary qualities - of warmth and generosity and above all else her indefatigable sense of duty.

That is why Princess Anne had insisted on breaking the royal protocol which decrees that only men take part in such processions. And insisted on her right to walk behind the coffin in a poignant mark of respect to the grandmother she had come to so admire. For Prince Andrew and Prince Edward the memories were of the grandmother who came to see them in their school plays and encouraged them in their young life.

For Viscount Linley it is the recollections of youthful weekends at Royal Lodge, her home in Windsor Great Park where he made it his business to ensure that his grandmother was always surrounded by bright and interesting people and evenings always ended in laughter.

For that love of life was the secret which sustained the Queen Mother for so long and it is her love of life which drew her family together today, past differences forgotten. Death is always painful. Death always leaves a bleak void. But the vibrancy of the Queen who gave her spirit to a whole century was still there to sustain her family during this slow and solemn procession.

Ingrid Seward is editor of Majesty magazine