Prince Philip Dies Aged 99

Prince Philip, husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, has died at age 99.

A post made on the royal family’s website on Friday morning read:

“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. Further announcements will made in due course. The Royal Family join with people around the world in mourning his loss.”

Reports said that the Prince spent about 65 years supporting the Queen in establishing a strong monarchy; no wonder she called him her “strength and stay” during their 50th wedding anniversary speech in 1997.

Prince Philip will be remembered for his enormous efforts in modernizing the royal family’s image and bringing the royals to the television for the first time.

According to a brief bio by NBC News;

“Despite being born into a royal family, Philip’s early childhood was not typically royal.

“Born on June 10, 1921, on the Greek island of Corfu, he was the only son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, and Princess Alice of Battenberg. Greece’s king, Philip’s uncle, was forced to abdicate when Philip was a baby, and the family fled to Paris, with Philip famously carried to safety in a crib made from an orange box.

“At age 7, he moved to England, where he lived at Kensington Palace, now home to Prince William. Philip lived there with his paternal grandmother, Victoria Mountbatten, and later attended Gordonstoun, a boarding school in Scotland.

“At 18, Philip joined the Royal Navy and graduated from the Britannia Royal Naval College as a top cadet. He saw active duty from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean, and in 1945 at the end of World War II, he was in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrendered.”

Philip is survived by his wife, eight grandchildren: Peter and Zara Phillips; Prince William and Prince Harry; Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie; and Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn; and 10 great-grandchildren.

Source: NBC News.

Featured Image Source: Bangkok Post.