On his 90th birthday in 2011, the Queen gave her husband a very special, and rather poignant, gift — she appointed him Lord High Admiral of the Navy. This ancient title dating back to the 14th century was one that she herself held as monarch. Passing it on to Philip was her unique way of … Read more
From the moment the Queen, as a prim young girl of 13, was shown around the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth by a dashing 18-year-old cadet, no other man really counted. His death yesterday severed a partnership that had lasted for eight decades. As the Queen’s oldest friend, the late Margaret Rhodes, once told the … Read more
At times of grief, it is our close family we turn to for comfort and consolation. One can only imagine the wretchedness Prince Harry must have felt receiving that dreaded phone call telling him the terrible news that his grandfather had died. So helpless. So far away. So isolated from his family. He had not … Read more
At times of grief, it is our close family we turn to for comfort and consolation. One can only imagine the wretchedness Prince Harry must have felt receiving that dreaded phone call telling him the terrible news that his grandfather had died. So helpless. So far away. So isolated from his family. He had not … Read more
During the early days of his public life in Britain, the Duke of Edinburgh’s nickname — waspishly repeated by Private Eye — was ‘Phil the Greek’. But he had no Greek blood, and he intensely disliked the country of his birth. Hounded out of a nation where his grandfather and uncle had once reigned as … Read more
She has, of course, been preparing herself for some time for the day Philip would no longer be there, but that doesn’t make it any easier. To her, they have spent an entire lifetime together. Lilibet was, after all, only 13 when she first properly met him, and from that very moment, in the words … Read more
The Queen was last night grieving the shattering loss of her ‘beloved husband’ of 73 years. The Duke of Edinburgh died peacefully in his private apartment at Windsor Castle – two months and a day before what would have been his 100th birthday. As tributes poured in from around the world, Buckingham Palace’s focus was … Read more
For the Queen there was one saving grace: that she and Prince Philip were together at the end. After more than seven decades of their lives entwined in both love and duty, this may be the smallest of consolations. His austerely decorated bedroom overlooking the East Terrace at Windsor Castle was still linked by the … Read more
She has, of course, been preparing herself for some time for the day Philip would no longer be there, but that doesn’t make it any easier. To her, they have spent an entire lifetime together. Lilibet was, after all, only 13 when she first properly met him, and from that very moment, in the words … Read more
We cannot be surprised that Prince Philip has died at the age of 99, yet somehow we are. For the news, when it came, was a shock. A jolting moment on a cold, spring morning. Followed by an unexpected wash of sorrow and then an even more surprising feeling of loss. Why should we feel … Read more