The UK week in pictures: Thanksgiving for Prince Philip, Afghan women's football, and snow

'The National' selects the most striking photos from across Britain over the past week

On Monday, performers rehearsed as Blackpool Tower Circus prepared to reopen following a £1 million renovation. Blackpool Council in northern England funded the renovation of the world's oldest permanent circus arena. Getty Images

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II attended a service of thanksgiving for the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, on Tuesday at Westminster Abbey in London. Reuters

A sculpture conservator prepares the monumental plaster 'Large Spindle Piece 1968' on Tuesday. The piece went on show for the first time during the new exhibition 'Henry Moore: The Sixties' which opened to the public on Friday at the Henry Moore Studios and Gardens in Much Hadham, Hertfordshire. PA

Afghan women footballers have a team talk before their development squad played the women’s parliamentary team on Tuesday, at the Dulwich Hamlet FC ground, in London, as part of Amnesty’s annual Football Welcomes month. AFP

The superyacht 'Phi', which was seized by the UK government on Tuesday, docked at Canary Wharf in London. Transport Minister Grant Shapps ordered the £38 million ($50m) to be held as part of UK government sanctions against Russians with links to President Putin. Getty Images

Bereaved families gathered on Tuesday to mark the first anniversary of the National Covid Memorial Wall in London. They walked to No.10 Downing Street to hand in a petition to make the mural a permanent addition to the capital. PA

On Wednesday Dyson unveiled the new Dyson Zone air-purifying headphones in London. The noise-cancelling headphones include an air-purifying device. PA

Rhiannon Davies, left, embraces Kayleigh Griffiths, following the release on Wednesday of the final report by Donna Ockenden, chairwoman of the Independent Review into Maternity Services at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, in Shropshire. The inquiry found that hundreds of newborn deaths at Shrewsbury hospital were avoidable. PA

A gardener sows seeds into the moat surrounding the Tower of London on Wednesday, that will bloom into a 'Superbloom' display celebrating the Queen's Platinum Jubilee later this year. Reuters

YouTube fitness coach Joe Wicks poses with his MBE at Windsor Castle on Wednesday. Wicks' online workouts became a staple of many people's days during the 2020 coronavirus lockdown, with a world record 950,000 viewers tuning in to his livestream in March 2020. Getty Images

The UK was hit by low temperatures and spring snow on Wednesday and Thursday. Here a cyclist wheels his bike through snow in Allenheads, in the Pennines in Northumberland. PA

Conservation cleaner Tracie Mason dusts a marble bust of the Rev George Harbin on Wednesday in the Grand Staircase at Longleat House in Wiltshire, ensuring the stately home would be ready to start welcoming visitors again on April 1 after a two-year absence. PA

Artist Joseph Rossano views his art installation 'The Salmon School' on Wednesday. It is on display in the Castle Ballroom at the opening of Life at Balmoral, the Platinum Jubilee exhibition at Balmoral Castle, in Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire. PA

A climber scales the rigging of the Cutty Sark on Thursday in Greenwich, south London, at a preview of the Cutty Sark Rig Climb Experience, which opens to the public from Saturday. For the first time since the ship arrived in Greenwich in 1954, visitors will be able to climb the masts and enjoy views of the Thames and London. PA

On Thursday, soldiers from from 2nd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment, sorted and packed some of the surplus 84,000 ballistic helmets being shipped from Donnington to soldiers and emergency service workers in Ukraine. Getty Images

A soldier of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment falls off a horse during practice on Thursday for the state ceremonial parade surrounding this year's Platinum Jubilee celebrations at Hyde Park in London. AP Photo

A dusting of snow across Rothwell in Northamptonshire on Friday morning. PA

This week, Queen Elizabeth II took part in a poignant memorial service honouring her late husband Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey, the Afghanistan development squad women's football team defeated British politicians at a charity match in London, and in spring snow fell across the UK.