Prince Philip, the Greece-born royal who as the husband of Queen Elizabeth II was the longest-serving consort to a British sovereign, died Friday. He was 99.
“His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle,” the royal family announced. “Further announcements will be made in due course. The Royal Family join with people around the world in mourning his loss.”
The Duke of Edinburgh’s death came 12 days before Queen Elizabeth’s 95th birthday on April 21. Under a long-standing plan known as “Operation Forth Bridge,” his death ushers in a period of national mourning.
Philip, whom the queen referred to as “my strength and stay,” was hospitalized in February after “feeling unwell,” and was treated for an infection and a preexisting heart condition, Buckingham Palace said. He was released a month later after undergoing a heart procedure.
Philip, who popularized the sobriquet “The Firm” for Windsor family business, ended his official duties in the fall of 2017. Months earlier, in June, he was hospitalized for an infection and missed the Queen’s Speechopening the newly elected Parliament that month.
Two days after missing Easter 2018 services at St. George’s Chapel, he was admitted to King Edward VII Hospital for previously scheduled hip replacement surgery, the palace said. That 10-day hospitalization came weeks before the birth of Prince William and Kate’s third child, Prince Louis Arthur, and the marriage of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle on May 19, 2018, at St. George’s.
In January 2019, Philip was uninjured after he was involved in a collision while driving a Land Rover — at age 97 — near the queen’s Sandringham estate. The vehicle overturned, according to witnesses, and two women were treated for injuries. Weeks later, he decided to turn in his driver’s license.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Philip and Elizabeth had been staying at Windsor Castle, west of London.
The Duke of Edinburgh supported his wife throughout an unprecedented time of social, economic, technological, political change and family crises.
The Duke of Edinburgh supported his wife throughout an unprecedented time of social, economic, technological, political change and family crises.
Fourteen prime ministers held office while Philip was British consort — companion to the sovereign — from Winston Churchill in 1952 through incumbent Boris Johnson.
Both the duke and the queen, the world’s longest-reigning monarch, witnessed the transformation of a once-global British Empire into a Commonwealth of 52 independent member states, a free association headed by the queen.
Philip’s public statements had been few and far between in recent years and, even rarer were his direct dealings with the media. Previously, the duke was renowned for speaking his mind at public engagements, many times with cringe-worthy remarks that bent the bounds of humor.
