Rabat – Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, the husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, has passed away “peacefully,” at age 99, on April 9.
The official statement from the Royal Family reads that “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.”
Prince Philip’s health had been deteriorating over the course of the last few years. Last year saw his longest in-patient stay in a hospital, 28 days, following heart surgery. He was first admitted to the hospital on February 16 after feeling unwell. Two weeks later he was transferred to another hospital for the treatment of a pre-existing heart condition. The Prince was finally released home on March 16.
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According to the statement from the Royal Family, Prince Philip “passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle,” and “further announcements will made [sic] in due course.”
Prince Philip was born on June 10, 1921, on the Greek island of Corfu. He was born into the Greek and Danish royal families, the only son to Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg. He spent his early life studying in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
In 1939, aged 19, he began exchanging letters with the then-13-year old Princess Elizabeth. The two married on November 20, 1947, whereupon he was granted the titles of Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich by the then-reigning King George VI.
Queen Elizabeth II called him her “strength and stay” during a speech on their 50th wedding anniversary in 1997. “I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim or we shall ever know,” the Queen said on the occasion.
