We owe him a
DEVOTED HIS LIFE THE FAMILY DEPENDED ON, AS THE QUEEN PUT IT...
FROM the moment they met when she was just 13, Prince Philip was the constant in the Queen’s life. He knelt before Elizabeth at her coronation and promised to be her “liege man of life and limb”.
He vowed to “live and die for her” and, for 67 years, he honoured that pledge to his wife, his Queen and her people.
Just how much she relied on Philip became clear at their Golden Wedding celebrations in 1997.
She told the world: “He has, quite simply, been my strength and my stay all these years. I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim or we shall ever know.”
But his reply was just as telling – when the Duke praised her for having “tolerance in abundance”.
The Queen certainly tolerated Philip’s infamous irascibility and foot-in-mouth gaffes. One former member of the royal household said the Duke was “as constant a presence in our lives as the Queen, walking three steps behind her… just with a lot less diplomacy”.
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams said: “Philip only ever had two aims: to support the Queen and the institution of monarchy, and these he succeeded brilliantly.
“He determined early on that he would never let Elizabeth down.”
The couple spent their first years of married life in Malta, where Philip was based as a naval officer. They were blissfully happy. Baby Charles arrived in 1948, followed by Anne in 1950. But these years of relative normality were cut short in 1952 when King George VI died and Elizabeth became Queen.
For loyal Philip, there was no question of not taking up his duties as consort, even though it meant he had to resign from the Navy.
Charles and Anne were joined by Andrew, born on February 19, 1960, and then Edward, on March 10, 1964.
After the Queen’s “annus horribilis” of 1992, when Charles and Andrew’s marriages ended and Windsor Castle was hit by a fire, Philip helped improve the royals’ PR. It was his idea to open Buckingham Palace to the public to help pay for repairs at Windsor.
Philip was a man of contradictions. He was both an authoritarian and a caring hands-on dad, he was media-savvy but with a distrust of the press, a public figure who resented any curiosity about his life and a champion of the stiff upper lip who became devoted to the fragile Princess Diana.
His partnership with the Queen relied on a sense of humour and determination not to suffer fools
He has, quite simply, been my strength and my stay all these years The Queen
PRINCE PHILIP
TO THE MONARCHY, A STEADY PRESENCE
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.