Prince Philip dies at age 99
Philip Mountbatten, the rakish naval of ficer who captured the heart of a young Elizabeth Windsor and became the lifelong consor t to the British queen, has died in England at age 99.
“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,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement Friday just after noon in Britain. “His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle.”
The death of the Duke of Edinburgh ended the longest marriage of a reigning monarch in British histor y, an enduring alliance that outlasted the Cold War, 15 prime ministers, war and peace in Northern Ireland and Britain’s union with Europe — followed by its shattering decision, 43 years later, to leave it.
“He was the longestserving consort in histor y, one of the last sur viving people in this countr y to have ser ved in the Second World War,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in an address outside 10 Downing St., citing in par ticular the prince’s actions during “the invasion of Sicily, where he saved his ship by his quick thinking.”
“From that conflict he took an ethic of ser vice that he applied throughout the unprecedented changes of the postwar era,” Johnson said. “Like the expert carriage driver that he was, he 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 flag above Buckingham Palace was lowered to half mast, and the of ficial announcement of the prince’s death — just two months shy of his 100th bir thday — was posted on the palace gates.
During the pandemic, Prince Philip and the queen had been staying at Windsor Castle, west of London. Though he enjoyed robust health for most of his life, he was hospitalized for a month this year, from Feb. 16 to March 16, during which he underwent a heart procedure.
He was also treated for chest pains in 2011, was hospitalized for two days in 2017 and was hospitalized again for 10 days in 2018 for a hip replacement. He was forced to give up driving in 2019 — at the age of 97 — after smashing into another car while driving his Land Rover.
Prince Philip never held the of ficial title of Prince Consort, as did Victoria’s Prince Alber t, but he nonetheless was Queen Elizabeth II’S closest confidant, most reliable political and the undisputed master of the royal household for more than seven decades.
Philip was known equally as a curmudgeon and a charmer who could quickly put ner vous guests at ease with an easy (and sometimes outrageous) one-liner. Cour tiers, his own children and the queen herself backed down under the quick flash of his temper, and guests at Buckingham Palace were expected to stay up to speed with his lively intellect and encyclopedic command of facts or were hastily dismissed as not worth the duke’s time.
While Elizabeth presided over af fairs of state, Philip championed dozens of charities, including the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, which has promoted self-reliance, physical development and other personal accomplishments for more than 6 million youths all over the world.
He also set down the ground rules for the rearing of the royal children, wrote books about horses and equestrian spor ts, oversaw the palaces and handled hundreds of official engagements ever y year until he finally retired from his official public schedule in August 2017. (“Unveil your own damn plaque,” read a cartoon drawn specially for the occasion, to Philip’s delight.) He was nearly always at the queen’s side during more than 73 years of marriage.