Danish royals and officials on Tuesday attended a private funeral for Denmark’s late Prince Henrik, husband of Queen Margrethe, at a Copenhagen chapel.

The queen, Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, France’s ambassador to Denmark and some 60 other guests were among those at the simple church ceremony at the chapel of the Christiansborg Palace, which houses Parliament, the prime minister’s office and is also used for royal ceremonies.

Later, hundreds lined the streets of downtown Copenhagen to watch military officers carry away Henrik’s coffin, draped in a Danish flag with his personal coat of arms.

The royal palace has respected the wish of French-born Henrik to be cremated.

Officials said earlier that half of his ashes would be spread over Danish seas and the other half buried in the royal family’s private garden at the Fredensborg Palace where he died.

The Danish royal family has no political authority, but is one of the world’s oldest kingdoms and prides itself on stability. Last year, Henrik stunned Danes when he said he didn’t want to be buried next to Margrethe in keeping with tradition.

Henrik, who married Margrethe in 1967, died February 13 at age 83.

He was diagnosed with dementia last year and was hospitalized in January with a lung infection.
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