Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth II, has died. He was 99.
Buckingham Palace confirmed the death of the prince, who had been married to the queen for 73 years, local time on Friday afternoon. ‘With deep sadness, Her Majesty the Queen announces the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
“His Royal Highness passed away peacefully at Windsor Castle this morning. Further announcements will be made in due course. The royal family joins people around the world over his loss. ”
The statement was placed at the gates of Buckingham Palace in London. Meanwhile, the royal family’s official website, Royal.uk, is currently a memorial page for the prince and ‘temporarily unavailable while appropriate changes are made.’ Prince Philip’s death, just two months before his hundredth birthday, comes a day after he appeared prominently in the ITV documentary “The Unseen Queen” – with the rare archive of the royal couple and their children in their early years – which Was broadcast Thursday night. to an audience of 2.4 million.
Prince Philip was ill before his death, after being admitted to hospital in February and later undergoing a procedure for an existing heart condition. He left the hospital and returned to Windsor Castle in March. The prince’s last public appearance was in July 2020 when he handed over his ceremonial role as colonel’s head of The Rifles to his daughter-in-law Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.
In December 2019, the prince spent four days in hospital for observation and to treat an unspecified condition.
Prince Philip, who is famously outspoken and sometimes controversial in his sharp and sometimes offensive remarks, leaves a “two-dimensional” legacy in the UK, according to the BBC’s royal correspondent Jonny Drymond, who notes that most of the royal grind as “salt- a language and a short temper, a man who tells funny jokes and makes politically incorrect remarks. ‘Nevertheless, he is also described as an’ extraordinary man who lived an extraordinary life ‘.
Born on 10 June 1921 in Corfu, Greece, as Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg. Prince Philip’s family was later banished from the country when he was a baby. After training in France and Germany, he joined the British Royal Navy in 1939. Before marrying Queen Elizabeth in 1947, he relinquished his Greek and Danish royal titles and became a naturalized British subject. He became Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich, before the wedding at Westminster Abbey.
His many appearances on film and television include “The Crown,” in which he was played by Matt Smith and most recently Tobias Menzies. In the fifth season of the hit program, which will premiere next year, actor “Game of Thrones” Jonathan Pryce will play the royal. American actor James Cromwell also plays the prince in the movie ‘The Queen’.
Prince Philip was a patron of several organizations that focused on the environment, sports and education. His first solo engagement as Duke of Edinburgh was the awarding of prizes at the boxing final of the London Federation of Boys’ Clubs at the Royal Albert Hall. He has also written several books on horsemanship and the environment.
He retired from his royal service in August 2017 at the age of 96.
The prince was involved in a car accident in January 2019 when he pulled out on a highway near the Sandringham estate, but the official statement reads that he was not injured. He is survived by his four children, Charles, Prince of Wales; Prince Andrew, Duke of York; Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex; and Anne, Princess Royal.