Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, today attended the state funeral of former Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.
The royal, 58, looked somber as she joined other officials for the official ceremony in Montecitorio Square in Rome, Italy.
The former president and senator – and the country’s first person to be elected to two terms – died at the age of 98 on Friday, September 22.
Sophie’s appearance marked a solo visit from the royal as she was spotted entering the building without her husband, Prince Edward.
The mother-of-two looked stylish in a respectful black ankle-length dress, alongside black shoes and a matching bag.
Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh (pictured right), today attended the state funeral of former Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.
The royal, 57, looked somber as she attended the official ceremony at Montecitorio Square in Rome, Italy.
She showed stoicity as she joined mourners in celebrating the former president’s life.
Images from the state funeral showed Giorgio Napolitano’s body being carried from the Senate to Montecitorio Square.
Giorgio, who declared himself an atheist, was honored with a non-religious service in the Lower House.
The ex-president was hospitalized in Rome shortly after his 98th birthday on June 29.
By September, he was reported to be in critical condition and taken off life support. He died three days later.
The Italian Council of Ministers announced a day of national mourning and ordered flags to be flown at half-mast for five days to commemorate his memory.
Giorgio was first elected to Parliament in 1953 and became president in 2006 as a prominent member of the democratic left, renamed the Cold War-era Communists.
He accepted a second term in 2013 after deadlocked elections that plunged Italy into a political crisis.
The former president and senator – and the first person in the country to be elected to two terms – died at the age of 98 on Friday, September 22. Here, Sophie is pictured heading to the funeral.
At one point, the body of Giorgio Napolitano can be seen being carried from the Senate to Montecitorio Square.
Her appearance marked a solo visit from the royal as she was spotted heading into the building without her husband, Prince Edward.
Her face appeared stoic, revealing the intensity of her emotions as she mourned the former president’s passing.
Duchess Sophie’s international solo appearance comes after she marked the first anniversary of the death of the late Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth earlier this month.
Sophie looked relaxed on the emotional day as she attended the international trials at Cornbury House in Oxfordshire.
Prince Edward’s wife was very close to Queen Elizabeth II and was known as one of her closest confidants.
The couple formed a close bond after losing their own mother, Mary Rhys-Jones, to stomach cancer in 2005, aged 71, when her daughter Lady Louise Windsor was only only two years.
