'Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may be anxious for a farewell visit to Washington in October,' says retired Ambassador K C Singh, 'but bending backwards on America's PRISM policy is going to earn him scorn at home and contempt abroad.'
China on Tuesday joined a war of words with the United States over letting whistleblower and former Central Intelligence Agency contractor Edward Snowden to leave Hong Kong saying that it is "unreasonable" for Washington to criticise the decision and make "groundless" accusations.
The ceremony, which officially begins at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle with a national minute's silence at 1500 local time on Saturday, will be a religious one though without any sermons, as planned by the Duke, who passed away aged 99 last week on Friday.
The funeral incorporated hymns and readings chosen by the late royal himself and focussed on the "unwavering loyalty" of the longest-serving consort in British history to his wife, the monarch, and service to Britain and the Commonwealth.