Queen Elizabeth & Prince Philip 'Separated' Before His Death, Says Biographer: 'She Was Absolutely Furious'
A royal biographer is shedding light on Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s relationship in their final years before Philip’s 2021 death, claiming, “In a sense, they had separated.”
In his upcoming biography, Queen Elizabeth II: A Personal History, royal writer Hugo Vickers writes that the Queen was not with her husband of 73 years when he passed away on April 9, 2021, because they had been living apart for several years.
Philip stepped back from royal duties in 2017 amid his failing health and relocated to Norfolk to a royal estate, while the Queen continued her public duties. “The Queen let the Duke do exactly as he pleased. He was at his happiest at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate,” Vickers wrote, via People.
The Duke of Edinburgh moved to Wood Farm alone. However, Vickers claims that his longtime friend and confidante, Penny Mountbatten, also known as Penelope Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma, frequently joined him.
“He enjoyed his carriage-driving, read voraciously and painted a little,” Vickers 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.”
The Queen and Philip did reunite in his final months when the monarch relocated from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle amid COVID-19 lockdowns and summoned her husband to join her. 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.”
The night before his death, the biographer claimed 99-year-old Philip “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 Queen, Vickers claimed, did not see Philip before his death. “The following morning, he got up, had a bath, said he did not feel well and quietly slipped away,” he wrote.
“[The Queen] took the line, I was told, that she was ‘absolutely furious that, as so often in life, he left without saying goodbye,'” Vickers wrote, noting that throughout their marriage Philip was known for quietly leaving home without saying goodbye.
Due to COVID restrictions, Philip’s funeral was restricted to just 30 mourners and the Queen famously sat alone in the church, wearing a mask. “Nothing would have delighted the Duke more than having such a pared-down farewell,” Vickers wrote.
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