Royal biographer Hugo Vickers details the final years of the late monarch in his upcoming book ‘Elizabeth II,’ out this month
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and Britain’s Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (R) during the wedding ceremony of Britain’s Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and US actress Meghan Markle in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, in Windsor, on May 19, 2018.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.Credit : JONATHAN BRADY/POOL/AFP via Getty
A new biography about the late Queen Elizabeth and the royal family is revealing candid details about her final years with her husband, Prince Philip.
In his upcoming book, Queen Elizabeth II, coming out in April, royal biographer Hugo Vickers deep-dives into the late monarch’s life with recollections from rare insiders and decades of observations.
Vickers reveals in the book that the Duke of Edinburgh was diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer in 2013. Multiple heart procedures also affected Philip’s health throughout his final years, leading to his stepping back from his royal duties in August 2017.
Following his final public engagement, Vickers wrote, “the Queen let the Duke do exactly as he pleased. He was at his happiest at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate.”
WINDSOR, UNITED KINGDOM – MAY 12: (EMBARGOED FOR PUBLICATION IN UK NEWSPAPERS UNTIL 24 HOURS AFTER CREATE DATE AND TIME) Penelope Knatchbull, Lady Brabourne and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh attend day 3 of the Royal Windsor Horse Show in Home Park on May 12, 2007 in Windsor, England. (Photo by Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
Penelope Knatchbull and Prince Philip attend day 3 of the Royal Windsor Horse Show on May 12, 2007.Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty
Prince Philip moved to Wood Farm by himself, with Vickers claiming that he was frequently joined there by his longtime friend and confidante, Penny Mountbatten, also known as Penelope Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma.
“He enjoyed his carriage-driving, read voraciously and painted a little,” he 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.”
As COVID-19 lockdowns went into effect in 2020, the Queen left Buckingham Palace for Windsor Castle and summoned Philip from Wood Farm. 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.”
To be safe, the couple remained in isolation for Christmas that year, staying at Windsor while other members of the royal family celebrated at Sandringham, per tradition. Meaningfully, during her annual Christmas address to the nation, the Queen displayed just one family photo on her desk: a shot of Prince Philip in a simple oval frame.
The start of 2021 saw the Duke of Edinburgh in and out of the hospital, and he nearly died during heart surgery in March. The deterioration of his short-term memory was also becoming more obvious to those around him.
“He did not want to reach his 100th birthday [on June 10], particularly disliking the fuss attendant at such events,” Vickers wrote.
On the last night of his life, the biographer says the 99-year-old royal “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 following morning, he got up, had a bath, said he did not feel well and quietly slipped away.”
The Queen did not see him before he died, Vickers claimed. “She took the line, I was told, that she was ‘absolutely furious that, as so often in life, he left without saying goodbye.’ “
While the circumstances of his death were isolated due to the pandemic, the lockdown did grant Prince Philip one posthumous blessing: “Due to Covid rules, the number of mourners at Philip’s funeral was restricted to 30. Nothing would have delighted the Duke more than having such a pared-down farewell.”
There, Queen Elizabeth sat alone and masked in St. George’s Chapel for the funeral service.
Queen Elizabeth II takes her seat during the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Queen Elizabeth attends the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on April 17, 2021.Jonathan Brady – WPA Pool/Getty Images
The Queen never spent another night at Buckingham Palace. In 2022, her bed was sent to Windsor following a subdued summer at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. This is when, Vickers predicts, she was diagnosed with the bone cancer.
The royal biographer wrote that Queen Elizabeth and her old friend Prue Penn spoke candidly about death, with the monarch remarking, “I feel as if I’m in the departure lounge.”
She correctly guessed that she, like her husband, would also not make it to 100 years old. She died on Sept. 8, 2022, at the age of 96, after reigning for over 70 years.
The nation mourned the longest-reigning British monarch, but the Queen seemed to resent the forthcoming spectacle in her conversations with Penn. Of dying, she told her friend, “At least you don’t have to do it as publicly as me.”