Prince Philip, age 99, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, has died, Buckingham Palace says.
The WWII naval officer-turned-royal consort had been a high-profile member of the British royal family since 1947.
Philip spent a month in hospital earlier this year before being released on March 16 to return to Windsor Castle.
'It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,” the palace says. 'His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle.”
Born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark on June 10, 1921, on the Greek island of Corfu, he was the son of Princess Alice of Battenberg and Prince Andrew of Greece.
It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) April 9, 2021
His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle. pic.twitter.com/XOIDQqlFPn
After his family was exiled from Greece, Philip grew up in France and Germany. He was later sent to live in Britain with his maternal grandmother, Victoria Mountbatten, herself the granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
In 1939, aged 18, Philip joined the British navy. He met his future wife, Elizabeth – his third cousin – that same year when the royal family toured his naval college.
She was 13 at the time and reportedly fell in love with him almost immediately.
The pair began writing letters to each other – the beginning of a long courtship which continued as Philip served in the Navy during World War II, including on battleships in the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
In 1946, Philip asked for Elizabeth's hand in marriage, and they wed the following year. She was 21, he was 26.
His three sisters, all of whom had married German princes, were barred from attending the wedding at Westminster Abbey, due to post-WWII tensions.
Philip abandoned his Greek and Danish royal titles and adopted his grandmother's surname, Mountbatten. Before the wedding, he was given the title Duke of Edinburgh.
When Elizabeth took the throne in 1952, Philip gave up his naval career to accompany her on royal duties.
Accompanying her on royal tours across the globe, Philip visited New Zealand 11 times between 1953 and 2002.
He once described himself as 'the world's most experienced plaque-unveiler” – and he's not wrong.
Since Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne, he made over 22,000 solo public engagements and delivered over 5000 speeches.
Philip and Elizabeth had four children: Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.
Their grandchild, Prince William, is second in line to the throne, after Prince Charles.
In total, they had eight grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
In 2017, Philip, then aged 95, announced he would be stepping down from his royal duties, after years suffering from heart disease and other ailments.
In April 2018, he had hip replacement surgery and had since been largely absent from public life, including missing his great-grandson Prince Louis' christening. But he did attend the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Windsor in May of that year.
In January 2019, the then-97-year-old was driving a Range Rover and was turning out of an intersection when he collided with a Kia car carrying three people, causing minor injuries to two of them.
In February of 2021, at the age of 99, he was admitted to King Edward VII Hospital in London. Buckingham Palace said the move was 'a precautionary measure” taken on the advice of Philip's doctor.
His illness was not related to Covid-19. The Queen and Philip were vaccinated against the coronavirus in early January.
An Online Book of Condolence is now available on the Royal website for those who wish to send a personal message of condolence: https://t.co/0w7Vd7kYq0
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) April 9, 2021
Visit https://t.co/utgjraQQv5 for updates from Buckingham Palace and information about The Duke of Edinburgh's life and work. pic.twitter.com/fkV4FTvhqI
1 comment
He was a
Posted on 12-04-2021 13:07 | By morepork
Never politically correct (in fact, sometimes quite outrageous...) , bumbling often, socially inept, but what you saw was what you got and he was honest to a fault. Duty was something he never neglected and he deserves, at least, respect for that. As a child, I remember waving my dog's paw to him and the Queen as they drove past in Lower Hutt. I liked him.
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