We owe him a
gladly. He gave her the nickname “Cabbage”, thought to have originated from the French phrase “mon petit chou”, which means both “my little pastry puff” and “my little cabbage”.
The pair often squabbled, too.
The Queen’s private secretary Lord Charteris once said: “It’s not unknown for the Queen to tell the Duke to shut up.”
Despite his devotion to the Queen, rumours abounded about the Duke’s roving eye. Over the years he was linked to a string of other women. Some went as far as claiming that the Queen and Philip led separate lives.
But others insist they were a devoted couple who simply chose not to live in each other’s pockets. Once, when asked what was the secret of their successful marriage, Philip replied: “Different interests. It’s one thing not to argue about.”
But if anyone dared to question his devotion to the Queen they got short shrift. A female journalist once plucked up the courage to ask him about the rumoured affairs – and felt the full blast of Philip’s wrath.
“Good God, woman,” he stormed. “Have you ever stopped to think that for years I’ve not moved anywhere without a policeman accompanying me? How the hell could I have got away with anything like that?”
In May 2017, Philip stepped down from public life at the age of 96 – having completed 22,219 solo engagements since 1952.
His final royal duty saw the Duke attend a parade for the Royal
Marines at Buckingham Palace that August.
In November 2017 Prince Philip and the Queen celebrated 70 years of marriage – their platinum anniversary.
They marked the occasion with a private dinner at Windsor Castle and the bells of Westminster Abbey in London, where they married in
1947, rang out on celebration.
Poignantly, just seven days later, his grandson Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their engagement.
The Duke of Sussex reportedly arranged for his nuptials to happen just months later to ensure his beloved grandfather could be present.
There were concerns that Philip’s hip surgery in April 2018 might stop him attending – and fears mounted further when he cracked his ribs in a fall days before the ceremony.