Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth enjoyed a happy 74-year-long marriage, but there was one habit of the late Duke of Edinburgh’s that his wife struggled with. According to British historian Hugo Vickers’ new book Queen Elizabeth II: A Personal History, Prince Philip spoke about the lead-up to Philip’s passing in 2021, revealing his cause of death.
“On the last night of his life, he gave his nurses the slip, shuffled along the corridor on his Zimmer frame, helped himself to a beer and drank it in the Oak Room,” Vickers penned of Philip’s final days spent at Windsor Castle, with the royal having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2013.
Prince Philip’s marital habit
“The following morning, he got up, had a bath, said he did not feel well, and quietly slipped away. By this point, he had lived with pancreatic cancer for nearly eight years – far longer than the usual survival time from diagnosis.”
The historian went on to explain that the Queen was absent for his death, which reportedly made her “absolutely furious that, as so often in life, he left without saying goodbye”.
Here, the writer alludes to Philip’s habit of leaving events without warning. Elsewhere in the book, the author details how the Queen would often ask her staff when Prince Philip was leaving an event, only to be told: “His Royal Highness left 20 minutes ago.”
In 2017, he retired from public life entirely and retreated to Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk. The Queen stayed at Windsor Castle due to her royal duties as an active monarch.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s love story
The couple first met when Princess Elizabeth was 13, and Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark was an 18-year-old Dartmouth Naval College cadet. They later developed a friendship, keeping in touch by writing letters during his time serving in the Royal Navy.
In 1947, their engagement was announced, though Philip had proposed the summer before; the announcement was delayed until the future Queen’s 21st birthday had passed.
The prince presented his bride-to-be with a platinum and diamond engagement ring using stones from a tiara belonging to his mother, Princess Alice of Greece. They tied the knot in 1947, with Winston Churchill calling it “a flash of colour on the hard road we travel,” due to the nuptials taking place in the wake of World War II.
They went on to have four children – Charles, born in 1948, Anne, born in 1950, Andrew, born in 1960, and Edward, born in 1964. Throughout their marriage, Philip and Elizabeth were very much a double act, with the late monarch famously describing her husband as her “strength and stay” in a 1997 speech marking their Golden Wedding Anniversary.
