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After a difficult childhood as a Greek prince in exile, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, died today at the age of 99, having devoted his life to the service of the British Crown hand in hand with -and in the shadow of- his wife, Queen Elizabeth II. We present a chronology summarizing the most important aspects of his life.
June 10, 1921: Born in the palace of Mon Repos, on the Greek island of Corfu, as the youngest of five children and the only son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenberg.
1922: At 18 months of age, he leaves the Hellenic country with his family due to the political instability that led to the abdication of his uncle, King Constantine I of Greece.
1930: He travels to Great Britain, after a hard exile in France, to study for three years at the English Cheam School.
1934: After a year in Germany, he returns to the United Kingdom to train at the strict Scottish boarding school Gordonstoun. Later, he meets his future wife, the then Princess Elizabeth, at a wedding.
1937: His sister Cecilia, Princess of Greece and Denmark, and other members of the family die in a plane crash.
1940: Serves for the British Navy during World War II, in the Mediterranean and the Pacific.
1946: He appears before George VI to ask for the hand of Elizabeth, his third cousin, and the monarch gives his approval to the union.
February 1947: He obtains British nationality, renounces his royal title of Prince of Greece and Denmark and adopts his maternal surname, Mountbatten. A few months later, he is named Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron of Greeenwich.
November 20, 1947: He marries Princess Elizabeth, 21 years old, at Westminster Abbey in London, before 2,000 guests and with nearly 200 million people following the ceremony on the radio.
1948: His first son, Charles, Prince of Wales, is born.
1950: His first and only daughter, Anne, Princess Royal, is born.
1952: After the death of George VI and the accession of Elizabeth II to the throne, he assumes public duties, accompanying the Queen on her Commonwealth travels and serving as patron or president of more than 750 organizations, including the World Wide Fund for Nature. He leaves his career as a commander in the Royal Navy.
1956: Embarks on a months-long voyage around the globe that takes him to inaugurate the Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. He then founded the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, a personal development program for young people.
1957: Elizabeth II names him Prince of the United Kingdom.
1960: His son Andrew, Duke of York, is born. Elizabeth II agrees that the descendants of the royal family adopt the Mountbatten-Windsor surname.
1964: His son Edward, Earl of Wessex, is born.
1967: His mother, Alice, moves to Buckingham Palace to live with her son for the last two years of his life.
1972: He celebrates his silver wedding anniversary.
1988: Embarks on an official trip to Spain with Elizabeth II and visits Seville, Madrid, Barcelona and Mallorca.
September 1997: At the funeral of Princess Diana of Wales, he encourages his grandsons, William and Henry, to walk behind the coffin of their mother, who had died in a car accident in Paris in August of that year.
November 1997: He celebrates his golden wedding anniversary. Elizabeth II refers to him in a commemorative speech as her “strength and stay” and assures him that she owes him much more “than he would ever claim.”
2011: Undergoes emergency coronary surgery.
2012: In a speech commemorating the 60th anniversary of her accession to the throne, the Queen calls him her “constant strength and guide”
2013: Undergoes “exploratory” abdominal surgery.
2017: Decides to retire from public life, after decades of service. Celebrates 70 years of marriage to Elizabeth II, the first British monarch to reach this milestone.
2018: He undergoes surgery for a hip problem.
2019: Resigns his driving license after suffering an accident while driving an SUV in the vicinity of his country residence at Sandringham.
16 February 2021: Admitted to King Edward VII Hospital in London as a precautionary measure after feeling unwell.
3 March 2021: Undergoes surgery for a pre-existing heart problem.
March 16, 2021: He is discharged from hospital.
9 April 2021: Dies at Windsor Castle, two months short of his 100th birthday.
