Britain’s Prince Philip dies
Operation Forth Bridge commences after death of Queen’s husband
— Prince Philip, the steadfast husband of Queen Elizabeth II and the longest-serving royal consort in British history, died at age 99 on Friday, Buckingham Palace announced.
“It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,” the royal family said in a statement posted on an easel at the palace gates by two staff members, women dressed in black tails, their faces covered by masks.
An identical announcement on Twitter carried a photo of the prince in a military uniform bedecked with regimental medals and gold braid. The palace said Philip “passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle,” where the queen and her husband spent much of the coronavirus pandemic, mostly out of sight.
No cause of death was given. Philip had been released from a London hospital on March 16, after spending a month undergoing treatment for an infection and recovering from heart surgery. The palace said at the time that his illness was not related to the coronavirus, but it did not offer any other information. Both the queen and Philip received coronavirus vaccinations in January.
Details of “modified funeral and ceremonial arrangements” — a long-planned affair known by the code name Operation Forth Bridge — would be revealed in “coming days” and respect government advice on social distancing, the palace said on Friday.
British royal correspondents reported that the funeral will likely take place in a week or so at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were wed. Philip will be interred in the family vault beneath the chapel.
Large public processions and a lying-in-state are not being planned.
Britain is just now coming out of its third national lockdown due to the pandemic. Nonessential shops, outdoor pubs and hair salons are slated to open on Monday, but large gatherings have been banned and funeral attendance is limited to 30 people.
By comparison, at least 42 people from the extended royal family appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony for the queen’s birthday in June 2019.
Speculation
There was much specuation about whether Prince Harry, Philip’s grandson, would fly in from California for the funeral — a potentially first trip to Britain since Harry and his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, aired their grievances with the royal family in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Outside the palace on Friday, bundles of spring flowers were being placed at the black and gold gates. Crowds were amassing, too, at Windsor Castle, an hour’s drive west.
“With the safety and wellbeing of the public in mind, and in accordance with government guidelines, members of the public are asked not to gather in crowds,” the palace said. “Those wishing to express their condolences are asked to do so in the safest way possible, and not to gather at Royal Residences.”
Instead, the royal family encouraged people to make charitable donations and leave messages in a book of condolences posted on its official website.
Alongside the queen, 94, Philip had been the face of the monarchy since the couple married in 1947, before the age of television, and five years before his wife ascended to the throne.
Younger generations have been introduced to the prince via the hit Netflix series “The Crown,” which presents Philip as a steadfast companion to Elizabeth through triumph and the many trials that have beset the House of Windsor.
Royal biographers say the television series is mostly accurate in its broad-brush portrait of Philip, who could be a distant father and a royal snob, who sometimes bristled behind the scenes at his role of forever yielding to the decrees of his wife and queen.
But he did his duty. At the coronation of Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey in 1953, the duke knelt before the sitting queen and pledged to be her “liegeman,” or faithful servant, for life. The couple were married for 73 years.
News of his death saturated the press in Britain, as tributes began to pour forth.
From 10 Downing Street, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement that the prince had “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.”
Johnson echoed the words of Elizabeth on the couple’s golden wedding anniversary. “Her Majesty said that our country owed her husband ‘a greater debt than he would ever claim or we shall ever know’ and I am sure that estimate is correct,” he said.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden joined the world leaders paying tribute, saying in a statement: “The impact of his decades of devoted public service is evident in the worthy causes he lifted up as patron, in the environmental efforts he championed, in the members of the Armed Forces that he supported, in the young people he inspired, and so much more.”
The prince cut a dashing figure, a lean, handsome and athletic sportsman in impeccably tailored suits and military uniforms. He was a competitive cricketer and played polo into his 50s, when arthritis sidelined him. He took up horse carriage racing, instead. He was a pilot with 5,000 hours of flight time.
In recent decades, polling data showed the prince widely respected, sometimes admired, but not tremendously popular. He was not beloved by the public — not like the queen, anyway, who remains one of the most popular figures in Britain.