Royal Family asks public not to mourn Prince Philip with this common gesture

The Royal Family has asked the public to avoid one common gesture when grieving Prince Philip, who has died aged 99.

• The Royal Family has made an unusual request to the public following the death of Prince Philip. 
• Buckingham Palace has asked people to avoid a common mourning gesture after releasing an online book of condolences. 
• In other royal news, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pay tribute to Prince Philip.
  

Buckingham Palace released an online book of condolences for mourners to pay their respects to the Duke of Edinburgh earlier today, but will not be approving any in-person tokens of sympathy due to the Covid-19 social distancing restrictions. 

The public has been informed that there will be no physical book of condolences to sign and that flower donations will not be accepted. 

"The Royal Family ask that members of the public consider making a donation to a charity instead of leaving floral tributes in memory of the Duke," the Royal Family posted on their official Twitter account. 

Buckingham Palace released the statement after being flooded with an expected amount of mourners bearing flowers this morning. The situation became so treacherous that royal staff was forced to erect barriers around the property to deter people from doing so. 

In normal circumstances, the public would place floral tributes at the gates of Buckingham Palace following the death of a royal family member. When Princess Diana died in 1997, an estimated 15 tons of bouquets and 60 million individual flowers were left outside the palace. 

The volume of flowers was so large that an army of volunteers was recruited to clear them up the following week. The ones that were still fresh were delivered by cabs to nursing homes and hospitals, while the decaying bunches were removed to be used as fertilizer for the Kensington Palace gardens.