On April 9th, 2021, Buckingham Palace announced that Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth's partner
of more than 73 years, had died.
The royal statement said in part:
"It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen announces 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 ... The Royal
Family join with people around the world in mourning his loss."
The 99-year-old Duke was previously admitted to the King Edward VII Hospital in London
on what Buckingham palace first described as a "precautionary" visit.
At the time of his death, The Duke of Edinburgh was the oldest member of the royal family
and the longest-living consort in British Royal history.
Prince Philip's 2021 hospitalization followed a similar episode in 2019, in which he spent
four nights hospitalized for "observation and treatment" of a non-disclosed pre-existing
condition.
After, he was rarely seen in public.
The duke quipped to the BBC in an interview commemorating his 90th birthday,
"It's better to get out before you reach the sell-by date.
I reckon I've done my bit so I want to enjoy myself a bit now, with less responsibility,
less frantic rushing about, less preparation, less trying to think of something to say."
He wouldn't step down from royal duties officially until 2017, at which point he was nearly 96.
If you've watched The Crown, you know.
There are the cartoon cutouts you see plastered all over gossip columns.
And then there are the people, who transform into symbols when they dress up in their royal
titles.
For the most part, we know the "Prince Philip'' that Buckingham Palace has created for us.
We are in awe of the man who continued practicing Canadian Air Force exercises, well into his
99th year.
We remember Philip, the Navy officer who was awarded the Greek War Cross of Valor for his
service during World War II.
We celebrate the prince as the first Royal to cross the Antarctic Circle, while on tour
with the HMY Britannia in 1957.
We admire him as Queen Elizabeth's support system.
As Her Majesty wrote on their Golden Wedding Anniversary,
“He has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years."
We've gained glimpses of the man behind the title, too.
When Prince Philip was not involved in one of 780 organizations or giving one of the
5,493 speeches he gave throughout his royal career, you might have found him reading.
Philip Mountbatten apparently had a healthy interest in alien sightings and a collection
of books dedicated to the subject.
And he had a passion for architecture.
Design, he once admitted in an interview,
"Makes [life] worthwhile ... It makes it a positive experience rather than just having
to struggle through it."
We know, too, that Prince Philip was a dedicated letter writer.
Perhaps you've read the letters which he once sent to Princess Diana.
"I cannot imagine anyone in their right mind leaving you for Camilla," he purportedly wrote,
referring to Charles and Diana’s relationship.
His love story with Queen Elizabeth also began with words on a page.
The two first became acquainted at a royal wedding celebration in 1934 but met again
in 1939.
Then, Philip, the son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg,
was a navy officer.
Elizabeth was 13, and impressed after Philip succeeded in "jumping over tennis court nets."
They became penpals.
He wrote,
"To have been spared in the war and seen victory, to have been given the chance to rest and
to re-adjust myself, to have fallen in love completely and unreservedly, makes all one's
personal and even the world's troubles seem small and petty."
Princess Elizabeth was 21 when she finally married Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten in 1947.
As an engaged couple, Elizabeth and Philip danced to "People Will Say We're In Love,"
a track from the musical, Oklahoma.
It became their song, and true to their life together.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip's was not only the longest marriage in British royal
history, but a passionate one.
A royal employee once told Historian Sally Bedell Smith that the Queen,
"Lights up when [Prince Philip] walks into the room.
She becomes softer and lighter and happier.”