‘Her beloved husband’ dies
Prince Philip saw role as support for queen
LONDON — Prince Philip, the irascible and tough-minded husband of Queen Elizabeth II who spent more than seven decades supporting his wife in a role that both defined and constricted his life, has died, Buckingham Palace said Friday. He was 99.
His life spanned nearly a century of European history, starting with his birth into the Greek royal family and ending as Britain’s longest-serving consort during a turbulent reign in which the thousand-yearold monarchy was forced to reinvent itself for the 21st century.
He was known for his occasionally offensive remarks — and for fulfilling more than 20,000 royal engagements to boost British interests at home and abroad. He headed hundreds of charities and founded programs that helped British schoolchil
dren participate in outdoor adventures.
“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 palace said.
Philip saw his role as providing support for his wife as she confronted the changing demands placed on a constitutional monarch who began her reign as Britain retreated from empire and steered the monarchy through decades of declining social deference and U.K. power into a modern world where people demand intimacy from their icons.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson noted Philip “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.”
The queen, a private person not given to extravagant displays of affection, once called him “her rock” in public.
Philip’s position was a challenging one — there is no official role for the husband of a sovereign queen — and his life was marked by contradictions between his public and private duties. He always walked three paces behind his wife in public, but he was the head of the family in private.
Philip often took a wry approach to his unusual position.
“Constitutionally, I don’t exist,” he once said.
Many Britons appreciated what they saw as his propensity to speak his mind, while others criticized behavior they labeled as racist, sexist or out of touch.
In 1995, he asked a Scottish driving instructor, “How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?” On one visit to a military barracks, he asked a sea cadet instructor if she worked in a strip club.
Still, many believe he was one of the few figures in the queen’s life who was able to speak plainly to her.
“All her life she was surrounded by men who said, ‘Yes ma’am,’ and he was one man who always told her how it really was, or at least how he saw it,” royal historian Robert Lacey said.
Lacey said at the time of the royal family’s difficult relations with Princess Diana after her marriage to Prince Charles broke down, Philip spoke for the family with authority.
Born June 10, 1921, on the dining room table at his parents’ home on the Greek island of Corfu, Philip was the fifth child and only son of Prince Andrew, younger brother of the king of Greece.
When Philip was 18 months old, his parents were forced into exile and fled to France.
Philip went to school in Britain, attended Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth and eventually served in World War II.
His final years were clouded by controversy.
His third child, Prince Andrew, was embroiled in scandal over his friendship with American financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Andrew faced accusations from a woman who said that she had several sexual encounters with the prince at Epstein’s behest. He denied the allegations but withdrew from public royal duties.
At the start of 2020, Philip’s grandson Prince Harry and his wife, the American former actress Meghan Markle, announced they were quitting royal duties. Last month, they gave an interview to Oprah Winfrey, saying that Meghan had suffered neglect and racist attitudes while a working member of the family.
Philip is survived by the queen and their four children — Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward — and eight grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.