LONDON — After a frenzied, middle-of-the-night scramble by the global news media for strategic real estate outside Buckingham Palace and an hours-long wait in the cold, the much anticipated announcement finally came: A 95-year-old man was retiring.
That would be Prince Philip, also known as the Duke of Edinburgh, the gaffe-prone but grumpily endearing and loyal husband of Queen Elizabeth II, who has been her consort for 70 years — the longest royal union in British history — and has served the country for nearly as long.
“His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh has decided that he will no longer carry out public engagements from the autumn of this year. In taking this decision, the duke has the full support of the queen,’’ read the terse statement from the palace, which gave no reason for the retirement. It added that the queen’s role would be unchanged, and that while Philip would retreat from public view he may occasionally attend public events.
The media scrum had been touched off by a report in The Daily Mail, a British tabloid, that all members of the queen’s staff had been ordered to a meeting in London, and that employees from royal residences across the country would be in attendance.
The Sun, Rupert Murdoch’s British tabloid, erroneously published an unfinished obituary of Philip on its website for a few minutes Thursday morning. The headline read: “Prince Philip dead at 95, how did the Duke of Edinburgh die, etc etc.’’ “We are mortified this happened,’’ a Sun executive later said.
The royal family are beloved fixtures in Britain and speculation about royal health has been simmering for months. The prince was ill during the holiday period while the queen, who is 91, was not seen in public for nearly a month after missing church services on Christmas and New Year’s Day because of what Buckingham Palace described as a persistent cold.
A former naval officer, Philip has earned a reputation as a royal workhorse and a steadfast spouse to the queen, even as he has sometimes come under criticism for making rude and occasionally out-of-place remarks.
New York Times
