PEOPLE Prince Philip

By Meredith Corporation

With Prince Philip's passing at age 99, People pays tribute to history's longest-serving royal consort in a photo-filled commemorative edition. The day of Queen Elizabeth's 1953 coronation, her husband, Philip Mountbatten, also took a vow: To stand by the monarch, who happened also to be the love of his life. With intimate family pictures and glorious historical moments, this special issue looks at Philip's life, from his turbulent childhood through his decades of public duty to the Crown. The son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg served his adopted country first as a naval officer and then as the “strength and stay” of the queen, to whom he was wed for 73 years. Father to Princes Charles, Andrew and Edward and to Princess Anne, he was a grandfather to eight (including Princes William and Harry), and a great-grandfather of nine. Flinty and frank, he was known for the occasional verbal gaffe but also for being someone the queen “can have a laugh with,” according to an insider. People's unparalleled royal coverage tells the story of a royal romance that weathered good years and bad. As a bridesmaid at their 1947 wedding told People when Elizabeth

• Language: English
• Publisher: Meredith Corporation
• Release date: Apr 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781547857340

Book preview

Philip: Love & Duty

A singular life lived in support of the crown

Once Elizabeth became Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh would walk behind her during official engagements, like this stop in New Delhi, during a 1961 tour of India.

THE DAY HIS WIFE was formally crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, the Duke of Edinburgh also took a vow inside Westminster Abbey: He promised to be her liege man of life and limb. That is precisely how Prince Philip, 99, who died at Windsor Castle on the morning of April 9, spent his life. This only son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg served his adopted country first as a naval officer and then as the strength and stay of Queen Elizabeth II, to whom he was married for more than 70 years. I can think of very few couples as united, Lady Pamela Hicks, a bridesmaid at their 1947 wedding, told People in 2016. Flinty and frank, he was also known for occasional verbal missteps. Dontopedalogy is the science of opening your mouth and putting your foot in it, which I’ve practiced for many years, Philip once joked to a group of dentists. But he was known, too, for his devotion to causes: He was a passionate conservationist, ahead of his time on overpopulation and threatened species. Only at age 96 did he retire from public duties. But his duty to the monarch, who happened to be his lifelong love, never wavered. Even after decades, noted Robert Hardman, writer of the documentary Our Queen at 90, Philip was someone she can have a laugh with.

A DAY OUT IN THE COUNTRY: WATCHING AN EQUESTRIAN COMPETITION IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE, 1968

2002: In Cairns, Australia, after a show of Aboriginal culture, Philip reportedly asked, Do you still throw spears at each other?

A kiss before flying: Prince Philip sent the Queen off from Ottawa to London in 1982.

In 1951 the princess and the duke received gifts from a First Nations chief and his wife while visiting Calgary.

I CAN THINK OF VERY FEW COUPLES AS UNITED

—PHILIP’S COUSIN LADY PAMELA HICKS (HERE, THE COUPLE AT WINDSOR CASTLE, 1982)

They are very funny together, Prince Harry said of his grandparents (at a military base in Wales, 1963).

She had a protective shell around her, and he brought her out of it, a U.K. diplomat once said of Philip (at the Royal Horse Show, 1949).

The Queen got a giggle at the 2003 Trooping the Colour ceremony.

PARTNERS FOR LIFE: DANCING IN BALMORAL TARTAN AT THE QUEEN’S SCOTLAND ESTATE, 1972

Look of love: The Queen (with Philip on their 50th anniversary, 1997) enjoyed the longest marriage of any British monarch in history.

A shared love of the ponies: The couple took in a 2018 polo match in Egham, England.

‘GRANDPA IS INCREDIBLE. . . . HE IS THE ROCK, YOU KNOW, FOR ALL OF US’

— PRINCESS EUGENIE OF PHILIP (HERE, AT HER 2018 WEDDING)

Philip and Elizabeth (with, from left, Lady