Duke of Edinburgh and husband to Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip was announced dead by the royal family Friday, April 9. He was 99 years old. His family said in a statement that he passed away peacefully in Windsor Castle that morning.
Earlier this year in February, Buckingham Palace announced that his Royal Highness was being hospitalized at King Edward VII Hospital. During his stay, he underwent surgery for a preexisting heart condition, and the surgery took place at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. He was released about a month after he was first admitted.
He retired in 2017 from public duties and rarely made public appearances. He has spent the COVID-19 lockdown with the Queen in Windsor Castle.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement that Philip, “earned the affection of generations here in Britain, across the Commonwealth and around the world.”
“Like the expert carriage driver that he was, he helped to steer the royal family and the monarchy so that it remains an institution indisputably vital to the balance and happiness of our national life,” he continued.
Prince Philip married then-Princess Elizabeth in 1947 at Westminster Abbey during a televised ceremony, and he served as the longest-standing royal consort in British history. He and Queen Elizabeth have four children, eight grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren together.
He was born into the Greek royal family in 1921 to Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg. He received his education in Britain and joined the Royal Navy as a teenager and served in World War II. He first met his third cousin Elizabeth when he was asked to accompany her on a tour. He renounced his Greek title after marrying her and became a naturalized British citizen. They were married for over 73 years.
When Elizabeth officially became queen in 1953 after the death of her father King George VI in 1952, Philip provided her support as her royal consort, as well as controversy due to his insensitive public remarks. Notable examples include when he asked Aboriginal Australians whether they still threw spears at each other, and when in 1994 he asked a wealthy Cayman Islands resident about them being descended from pirates.
When he was not accompanying his wife on domestic visits or Commonwealth tours, Philip became an accomplished pilot and regularly played polo. He received his Royal Air Force wings in 1953, helicopter wings two years later and a private pilot’s license in 1959.
Philip also provided the royal family guidance and support during times of crisis. In 1992, the marriages of Andrew, Anne and Charles collapsed, though Philip counselled Charles and Princess Diana to reconcile but to no avail. In 1997, after Diana tragically passed away in a car crash, Philip encouraged his fifteen-year-old grandson William to walk behind his mother’s casket at her funeral.
“If you don’t walk, I think you’ll regret it later,” Philip allegedly told William, according to British media accounts. “If I walk, will you walk with me?”
One of his most notable achievements was the creation of the Duke of Edinburgh Award, a youth self-improvement program that has been running for 65 years and in that time has aided 6.7 million young people in the U.K. alone.
Buckingham Palace announced that a ceremonial funeral for Philip will take place Saturday, April 17 in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
