Having tied the knot on November 20, 1947, Queen Elizabeth II was married to Prince Philip for 73 years—until his death on April 9, 2021. Now, one royal expert has shared details regarding Prince Philip's "final night," and why Elizabeth was left "absolutely furious" at her husband.
In an extract from his new book, Queen Elizabeth II: A Personal History, published by the Mail on Sunday, royal expert Hugo Vickers shared, "He went back to Windsor Castle on March 16 [after leaving hospital], his return considerably delayed by the need to find nurses 100 percent free of possible COVID-19 infection. He never emerged from the castle again."
Vickers continued, "However, during those last 24 days at Windsor, he was up and about. One lady-in-waiting, ringing in, was surprised to get him on the telephone." The expert also noted that Prince Philip likely enjoyed "elements of tranquillity in those final days in the castle where his mother had been born." And according to one account, he managed to have some fun, too.
Detailing Prince Philip's final wild adventure, Vickers shared, "On the last night of his life, he gave his nurses the slip, shuffled along the corridor on his [walking] frame, helped himself to a beer and drank it in the Oak Room."
After managing to ditch his nurses in order to consume alcohol, Philip reportedly returned to bed. "The following morning, he got up, had a bath, said he did not feel well, and quietly slipped away," Vickers explained. Basically, it sounds as though the prince just wanted one last drink before he died.
"By this point, he had lived with pancreatic cancer for nearly eight years—far longer than the usual survival time from diagnosis," the royal expert noted.
As was previously reported, Queen Elizabeth II wasn't at her husband's bedside at the time of his death.
"The Queen was not there when he died," Vickers wrote. "There had often been times in earlier days when she had asked the staff to let her know when Philip was leaving, only to be told, 'His Royal Highness left 20 minutes ago.'"
As a result, The Queen was allegedly not best pleased that her husband checked out without speaking to her first. "She took the line, I was told, that she was 'absolutely furious that, as so often in life, he left without saying goodbye,'" per Vickers.
Following 73 years of marriage, Elizabeth was likely left with an insurmountable loss following the death of her husband—as well as an alleged annoyance that he left without bidding her farewell.
