A new biography about Queen Elizabeth and the royal family reveals that Prince Philip had inoperable pancreatic cancer for the final years of his life
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The Duke of Edinburgh died on April 9, 2021
Royal biographer Hugo Vickers writes that the Queen didn't see Philip before he died, and that she was upset that her husband "left without saying goodbye"
A new biography about the lateQueen Elizabethand the royal family is revealing candid details about her final years with her husband,Prince Philip.
In his upcoming book,Queen Elizabeth II, coming out in April, royal biographer Hugo Vickers deep-dives into the late monarch's life with recollections from rare insiders and decades of observations.
Vickers reveals in the book that the Duke of Edinburgh wasdiagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancerin 2013. Multiple heart procedures also affected Philip's health throughout his final years, leading to his stepping back from his royal duties in August 2017.
Following his final public engagement, Vickers wrote, "the Queen let the Duke do exactly as he pleased. He was at his happiest at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate."
Prince Philip moved to Wood Farm by himself, with Vickers claiming that he was frequently joined there by his longtime friend and confidante,Penny Mountbatten, also known as Penelope Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma.
"He enjoyed his carriage-driving, read voraciously and painted a little," he wrote. "From time to time, the Queen went up by train to Norfolk to stay the weekend. Once again, she gave him a loose rein. In a sense, they had separated."
AsCOVID-19 lockdownswent into effect in 2020, the Queen left Buckingham Palace for Windsor Castle and summoned Philip from Wood Farm. They were "moved into four rooms in the castle, looked after by a 'skeleton' staff, 22 in total," Vickers wrote. "They entered a strict isolation, jokingly nicknamed HMS Bubble, by the Master of the Household, Tony Johnstone-Burt. Nobody was allowed to enter the Upper Ward of the castle, and there were no ladies-in-waiting in attendance."
To be safe, the couple remained in isolation forChristmas that year, staying at Windsor while other members of the royal family celebrated at Sandringham, per tradition. Meaningfully, during her annual Christmas address to the nation, the Queendisplayed just one family photoon her desk: a shot of Prince Philip in a simple oval frame.
The start of 2021 saw the Duke of Edinburgh in and out of the hospital, and he nearly died during heart surgery in March. The deterioration of his short-term memory was also becoming more obvious to those around him.
"He did not want to reach his 100th birthday [on June 10], particularly disliking the fuss attendant at such events," Vickers wrote.
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On thelast night of his life, the biographer says the 99-year-old royal "gave his nurses the slip, shuffled along the corridor on his Zimmer frame, helped himself to a beer and drank it in the Oak Room. The following morning, he got up, had a bath, said he did not feel well and quietly slipped away."
The Queen did not see him before he died, Vickers claimed. "She took the line, I was told, that she was 'absolutely furious that, as so often in life, he left without saying goodbye.' "
While the circumstances of his death were isolated due to the pandemic, the lockdown did grant Prince Philip one posthumous blessing: "Due to Covid rules, the number of mourners at Philip's funeral was restricted to 30. Nothing would have delighted the Duke more than having such a pared-down farewell."
There, Queen Elizabethsat aloneand masked in St. George's Chapel for the funeral service.
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The Queen never spent another night at Buckingham Palace. In 2022, her bed was sent to Windsor following a subdued summer at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. This is when, Vickers predicts, she was diagnosed withthe bone cancer.
The royal biographer wrote that Queen Elizabeth and her old friend Prue Penn spoke candidly about death, with the monarch remarking, "I feel as if I'm in the departure lounge."
She correctly guessed that she, like her husband, would also not make it to 100 years old. She died on Sept. 8, 2022, at the age of 96, after reigning for over 70 years.
The nation mourned the longest-reigning British monarch, but the Queen seemed to resent the forthcoming spectacle in her conversations with Penn. Of dying, she told her friend, "At least you don't have to do it as publicly as me."
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