Prince Philip remained by Queen Elizabeth II’s side until his final days.
Philip was born to Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenberg on the Greek island of Corfu on June 10, 1921. His family was exiled from Greece when he was a baby and they relocated to France. In 1928, he was sent to the United Kingdom where he attended Cheam Preparatory School in Berkshire. Later, he went to Gordonstoun School in Scotland before he left in 1939 and finished his education as a cadet at the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth.
While Philip was a navy cadet at the Royal Navy College, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth took their children, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, on a tour of the college in 1939. An 18-year-old Philip met his third cousin Princess Elizabeth, who was 13 at the time. The pair began to exchange love letters and their engagement was formally announced in 1947.
Philip and Elizabeth wed in front of 2,500 guests in Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947. The ceremony was recorded and broadcast on BBC Radio to 200 million people around the world. Philip’s title changed from Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten to His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The duo’s marriage is the longest of any British sovereign.
The couple had two children, Prince Charles born in 1948 and Princess Anne in 1950, before Elizabeth’s succession to Queen of England. Philip and Elizabeth later welcomed Prince Andrew, Duke of York, in 1960, and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, in 1964.
Scroll down to revisit Philip’s royal life in pictures.
