Queen Elizabeth’s husband Prince Philip dies aged 99

Britain’s Prince Philip, a constant presence at Queen Elizabeth II’s side for decades, has died at age 99, Buckingham Palace announced.

The death of the Duke of Edinburgh is a profound loss for the 94-year-old monarch, who once described him as her “strength and stay all these years”.

The outspoken former navy commander devoted much of his life as the queen’s consort to charity work – but was notorious for numerous gaffes, many deemed downright offensive.

He was admitted to hospital on February 16, 2021, and went home after a month during which he was treated for a pre-existing heart condition and an infection.

Announcing his passing, BBC television played the national anthem over a picture of Philip in his prime, dressed in military dress uniform

Philip, who was by the queen’s side for nearly eight decades, retired from public duties in 2017 at the age of 96. 

Who is Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth’s husband, Life

He had recently been hospitalized for an infection.
He was born on June 21, 1921 in Greece, but his family was driven out of the country when he was still a baby.
A member of the Greek and Danish royal families, he joined the British Royal Navy in 1939 at the age of 18, after studying in France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

That same July, she began correspondence with her distant cousin Princess Elizabeth, who was then only 13 years old. He served in the naval forces during the Second World War and served with privilege in the Mediterranean and Pacific fleets.
After the war, King George VI gave him permission to marry Elizabeth. Before their engagement was officially declared in July 1947, he renounced his Greek and Danish royal titles, became a naturalized British issue, and took the surname of his maternal and grandfather Mountbatten.

He was given the title of Duke of Edinburgh and married Elizabeth, then a princess, on 20 November 1947.

The couple moved to Malta where they were assigned. However, when Elizabeth became queen in 1952, she soon left active military service and officially became a British prince in 1957.
“To devote his life to playing the supporting role of his wife is clearly against his masculine character,” said Philip Eade, author of the young Prince Philip.

In some ways, Elizabeth’s sacrifice of her coronation freedom put the final seal – she had to give up her precious seafaring career. Later, he had to channel his energy to his new responsibilities, and now he was driven by a very strong sense of duty from his passion. ”

During the 70 years that Prince Philip spent at the age of 95 to fulfill his royal duties backed out in 2017, he accompanied the queen around the world, on Commonwealth tours and on state visits, and performed more than 22,000 solos.

He visited 143 countries in official capacity and participated in more than 780 organizations. One of the most successful was the Duke of Edinburgh Award, a program for young people that started in 1956.

What always struck me was the enormous variety of interests and also their depth. “Charles Anson, the Queen’s press secretary from 1990 to 1997, was truly a sage,” said Charles Anson.

“He took care of young people at the Duke of Edinburgh’s Trust, with the World Wildlife Fund, and with his work in technology and science, he was interested in wildlife.”

Prince Philip managed the modernization of Buckingham Palace after World War II, as well as reorganized the Balmoral and Sandringham properties and became the guardian of Windsor Great Park.

“He wanted to make the royal family and the monarchy less stuffy, wanted not to have that much formality everywhere,” Anson said. I think he was impressed by his maritime career. He wanted everything to be friendly in a formal and not overly strict but disciplined environment. ”

As royal consort for seventy years, Prince Philip was considered a great support to Queen Elizabeth.

As long as 1957, Time magazine credited the young queen’s growing confidence and said that “a mouse-like, slightly moody, and occasionally frozen bride turns into a confident stylish and often glamorously hot young matron.”
On her golden wedding anniversary in 1997, Queen Elizabeth described her as “my strength and I will stay for so many years.”

The couple had four children – Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

“He was an extraordinary wife,” Anson said. “He was very helpful and took great interest in how things run every day. Sometimes when I go to see the queen with a business issue, “Have you talked to Prince Philip?” About her “.

“It was easy to speak with and it encouraged dialogue. The tremendous loyalty of his staff is a sign of the man. ”

However, throughout his public life, Prince Philip caused controversy, with misjudged jokes or comments perceived as bigoted.

During a royal visit to China in 1986, he told a group of British students: “If you stay here longer, you will all have rough eyes.”

During a visit to Australia in 2002, he asked a successful indigenous businessman: “Are you still throwing a spear?”

Closer to home, he asked a Scottish driver instructor in 1995: “How do you keep the locals off the drink for long enough to pass the test?”

These events have always attracted media attention, but Prince Philip had little direct contact with the press and rarely made public statements or interviews.

However, according to biographer Eade, he collected newspaper cartoons for him.

“One of the reasons biographers kept returning to Prince Philip was that his character was full of paradoxes, completely separate from his unique position in the life of the nation,” says Eade.
He was intelligent and inquisitive, interested in psychology, philosophy, and religion, and science, technology, and the natural world. Yet his ideas were not always well thought out.