His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, passed away at Windsor Castle this morning with Her Majesty The Queen by his side.
“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,” announced Buckingham Palace. “His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle.”
Philip married Queen Elizabeth II in 1947 when she was Princess Elizabeth. However, she fell in love with him when she was only 13-years-old.
They were married for 73 years.
Philip and the Queen had four children, eight grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren.
Prince Philip was born on June 10, 1921, on the Greek Island of Corfu. He was the fifth child of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg:
The family were happily living in the royal household of Philip’s uncle King Constantine I. However, Greece was gripped by political instability and just a year and a half later the family were forced to flee after the King was exiled from his own country following a military revolt. In the political recriminations that followed, Philip’s father, a Lieutenant-General in the Greek army, was accused of high treason after allegedly disobeying an order and abandoning his post with his cavalry regiment in the face of attack during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922.The family managed to escape on British naval vessel HMS Calypso, with the newborn prince carried to safety in a cot famously crafted from an unused fruit box.
They settled in Paris in a house loaned from his aunt, Princess George of Greece and Denmark.
Prince Philip joined the Royal Navy after he left school:
He stayed in the Royal Navy and served on several ships – firstly on HMS Ramillies – and saw active service against German, Italian and Japanese forces. The next year he became a midshipman. In March 1941, he was a searchlight control officer on the battleship HMS Valiant and was mentioned in dispatches for his part in the battle of Matapan against the Italian fleet.His commanding officer said: ‘Thanks to his alertness and appreciation of the situation, we were able to sink in five minutes two eight-inch gun Italian cruisers.’Shortly afterwards, he was awarded the Greek War Cross of Valour.
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