AN OFFICER & A GENTLEMAN
NOT even Hollywood’s finest writers could’ve dreamt up a love story of such epic proportions. No way could they have captured the tale of a dashing young naval cadet stealing the heart of a princess so absolutely that she never again looked at another man the way she looked at him.
Nor could they have conjured up the breadth and depth of the romance that spanned more than seven decades, surviving pretty much everything that could be thrown at it. But now the final scene of the love story of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip comes to an end. At the age of 99 – just two months shy of his 100th birthday – the Duke of Edinburgh died, his devoted wife at his side.
‘HE HAS, QUITE SIMPLY, BEEN MY STRENGTH AND STAY ALL THESE YEARS’
The 94-year-old monarch announced the passing of her husband of 73 years with “deep sorrow”. Flags were lowered to half-mast and gun salutes from the military rang out across the country. The queen’s social media pages shared a portrait of her and Philip along with a moving quote she made in a speech at their golden wedding anniversary in 1997. “He has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years, and I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know.”
THE queen will be bereft at losing her soulmate but insiders say she was prepared for it. “She would’ve thought about this moment several times and her way would be to remain as steady and calm as possible,” Charles
Anson, a former press secretary to the monarch, told People magazine. “In my years of working with her she was always calm . . . But for any human being, this is a very cathartic moment.”
She’s gone into eight days of public mourning, which will be followed by another 30 days of private mourning.
She takes solace in the fact she and Philip were together in the past few months, insiders say.
