Prince Philip has died at 99, Buckingham Palace announces

Buckingham Palace officials say Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, has died. He was 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,” the palace said. “His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle.”

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.

His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle. pic.twitter.com/XOIDQqlFPn

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) April 9, 2021

Philip was admitted to a London hospital on Feb. 17 after feeling unwell. He spent a month in hospital and was released on March 16, when he returned to Windsor Castle.

His illness was said to not be related to COVID-19 — the Queen and Philip were vaccinated against the coronavirus in early January.

The British government said all official flags, including the Union Flag, will fly at half-mast across all U.K. government buildings until 8 a.m. local time the morning after the funeral of Prince Philip. The date of the funeral has yet to be announced by Buckingham Palace.

According to the College of Arms, Philip’s body will lie in rest in Windsor Castle ahead of the funeral in St. George’s Chapel. It will not be a state funeral, nor will there be a lying-in-state.

The College of Arms also noted that Philip’s titles — Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich, of Greenwich in the County of London — will be passed on to Prince Charles, the eldest son of the Queen and Philip.

In Canada, the bells of the Peace Tower rang 99 times on Parliament Hill on Friday morning, once for every year of Philip’s life. Flags were also lowered to half-mast at all government buildings.

“A family has lost a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather. The thoughts of Canadians are with Queen Elizabeth II and the members of the Royal Family as they mourn such a significant loss,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement.

Prince Philip timeline: Not your average royal consort

Philip, also known as the Duke of Edinburgh, married Elizabeth in 1947 and was the longest-serving consort in British history. He retired from public engagements in 2017 after carrying out more than 20,000 of them.

He and the Queen had four children, eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

A former naval officer and keen polo player, Philip enjoyed robust health well into old age but he had a number of health issues in recent years.

The Duke of Edinburgh — one of just a handful of men in history to be the husband of a reigning British queen — stamped his own personality on a job with no formal constitutional role. By doing so, he did much to keep the monarchy in tune with a changing world.

His informality and approachability, which remained unchanged through his years in Buckingham Palace, were a contrast to the more buttoned-down personality of the Queen.

Philip was an energetic man. He flew jet planes and piloted his own helicopters — a radical break with royal tradition. On a 1962 tour of Latin America he piloted his own jet aircraft much of the way.

His impromptu spirit was seen in Canada in 1958 when he interrupted a homeward journey from a visit to Ottawa for a tour of Springhill, N.S., which was in the throes of a mine disaster that had killed 74 men at the Cumberland No. 2 colliery. Mayor Ralph Gilroy introduced Philip to survivors by simply saying, “Boys, here’s His Royal Highness, Prince Philip.”

Prince Philip often thrilled young Canadians by personally presenting them with the Duke of Edinburgh gold awards, first introduced in 1963 to encourage perseverance, initiative and community responsibility.

Philip of the Hellenes was born June 10, 1921, at Mon Repos, his father’s house on the isle of Corfu off Greece. He was the only son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, who died in 1944.

His mother, Princess Alice, eldest daughter of Prince Louis of Battenberg, later lived as a nun on Tinos, another Greek island. He had four sisters, one of whom, Cecilia, was killed in an air crash in 1937.

Sixth in line to the throne of Greece, Philip renounced his right of succession and became a naturalized British subject in February 1947.

King George VI announced the betrothal of his daughter and Philip on July 9, 1947. The marriage, headline news around the world, took place in Westminster Abbey on Nov. 20.

____

With files from News Staff