Royal Family confirm Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, has died

The West Australian
Camera IconThe Duke was 99.

Prince Philip, the beloved husband of Queen Elizabeth II, has died at the age of 99.

The ailing prince had been taken to King Edward VII Hospital in London on Tuesday, February 16, after feeling unwell.

It was a “precautionary measure,” a statement from Buckingham Palace said.

His health had been a cause of concern for years, and he had been admitted to the same hospital in December 2019 for observation and treatment.

“The admission is a precautionary measure, on the advice of His Royal Highness’ Doctor,” the palace said in its statement this week.

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Camera IconHer Majesty, The Queen and His Royal Highness, Prince Phillip. Credit: The Royal Family/Instagram/The Royal Family/Instagram

Philip had been isolating along with the Queen at Windsor Castle during the pandemic. Both had received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine in January.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s death has plunged the United Kingdom into mourning and will be felt right across the globe, including the 53 nations of the British Commonwealth, where flags were being lowered to half mast.

The Duke and the Queen were married in 1947 and celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary on November 20, 2020.

Prince Philip retired from public life in August 2017 but was occasionally seen at events with the Queen, and attended the May 2018 wedding of grandson Prince Harry to Meghan Markle, just weeks after undergoing a hip replacement.

Camera IconPrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh dead at 99. Credit: Alastair Grant/AP

The 94-year-old Queen Elizabeth will be devastated at the loss of her loyal husband, who has been her companion throughout her entire adult life and with whom she has four children – Princes Charles, Edward, Andrew and Princess Anne.

Philip would have turned 100 on June 10.

An outspoken, proud and gruff man, he often chafed at the restrictions placed upon him by royal life, but has supported the Queen in her public life for almost seven decades and walked three steps behind her in public, as royal protocol dictated.

In January 2019, he survived a serious accident outside the Queen’s private home, the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.

Camera IconQueen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. Credit: Matt Holyoak/CameraPress/AP

The Duke was driving his Land Rover out of a side road when he collided with another car coming along the A149, the impact destroying his car and throwing it onto its side.

A passer-by helped the shaken but conscious Prince Philip climb out of the wrecked car via the sunroof, and he was driven into the Sandringham Estate, where a doctor declared him uninjured but placed him under observation. Two women in the second car received minor injuries.

The accident sparked a debate about why he was still driving at the age of 97, but he was also praised for being so independent at such a grand age.

Philip was forced to give up driving after the incident.

Until his death he still drove a horse and carriage on private land from time to time.

Camera IconBritain's Prince Philip. Credit: Adrian Dennis/AP

Distant cousins, Princess Elizabeth and Philip, Prince of Greece and Denmark, first met as children, and again in 1939 when the princess was 13 years old, when she accompanied her father King George VI to a visit at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth.

A cadet at the school, Prince Philip was dispatched to entertain the young princess with a game of croquet.

They exchanged letters, and by 1946, became secretly engaged when Prince Philip asked King

George VI for his daughter’s hand in marriage. The King agreed, providing the young couple kept it a secret until the Queen’s 21st birthday the following year, and the engagement was announced in July 1947.

Camera IconThe Queen and Prince Philip after their wedding.

The wedding was held on November 20, 1947, at Westminster Abbey.

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