London Prince Philip, husband of the British Queen Elizabeth II, has died, the royal family announced on Friday. He was 99.
“His Royal Highness passed away peacefully at Windsor Castle this morning,” the family said in a statement.
He was hospitalized in February and underwent surgery for heart disease. He and the Queen were married for over 73 years.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Philip has “earned the affection of generations here in Britain, in the Commonwealth and around the world.”
“Like the expert coachman that he was, he helped guide the royal family and monarchy so that it remains an institution that is indisputably vital to the balance and happiness of our national life.”
His role in life was to step behind the Queen, but even there, Prince Philip was able to build his own reputation and role in history.
“In essence, the queen has always worn the crown,” said Giles Brandreth, who led one of Philip’s charities for years, while “Prince Philip was always allowed to wear the pants. That’s how it worked.”
Born into the Greek Royal Family in 1921, Philip received an education and a maritime career in Great Britain.
And by luck or – many think – by royal design, he was chosen to accompany the young Princess Elizabeth on a tour. The Queen’s cousin and close friend until her death in 2016, Margaret Rhodes, well remembered the impression Philip made during that first meeting.
In an interview with CBS News, Rhodes once said that Philip had the immediate advantage of looking good when he met the young princess, describing him as an “extraordinarily handsome Viking god.”
They were married at Westminster Abbey in 1947 in a televised ceremony that grounded millions of viewers around the world. It was the beginning of a long and successful royal marriage. He and the queen have four children, eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
After Elizabeth became queen in 1953, Philip offered support and, from time to time, controversy. Some thought he was a blunder-prone fountain of political incorrectness.
He once asked aborigines in Australia if they still threw spears at each other. Closer to home, he once asked Scottish driving instructors how they kept their students “on the sauce” long enough to pass the test.
“He just said what he felt,” Brandreth told CBS News. ‘He was very funny. Prince Philip was the man who said that if you ever see a man open the car door for his wife, it’s a new car or a new woman. He was a shrewd observer of people. ‘
In 1997, when Britain mourned the death of Princess Diana, he stepped in to defuse a moment of crisis at her funeral. It was Philip who convinced the young Princes William and Harry to walk behind their mother’s coffin if they didn’t want to. “I’ll walk with you,” he said.
Philip remained healthy and active into old age, but suffered a number of setbacks in recent years. He was treated for a blocked coronary artery in 2011 and then spent several nights in the hospital in December 2019. A month later, he had to stop driving at the age of 97 after hitting a car near the royal house with his Land Rover. family Sandringham estate.
Philip retired in 2017 and public appearances became rare. He spent the recent coronavirus confinement at Windsor Castle with the Queen.
Royals gush very rarely, and we don’t know what Philip thought of the Queen’s glowing tribute to him on their golden anniversary, but some of her words could very well serve as his epitaph:
“He has just been my strength and has remained all these years,” said the prince. “Me and all his family, and this and many other countries, owe him a greater debt than he would ever claim, or we’ll ever know.”