Prince Philip, Husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, Has Died at 99

The U.K.’s. Royal Family has announced that Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, has passed away at the age of 99.

In an announcement on the Royal Family’s website, a statement read: “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. His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle. Further announcements will made in due course.”

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The duke had recently had heart surgery and had been diagnosed with an infection. He had been home recuperating since mid-March. Born into the Greek and Danish royal families, his family was exiled from Greece when he was an infant after a coup.

Born in 1921, his early years, as depicted in the series The Crown, were not easy ones. When he was 8, his mother was committed to a psychiatric hospital and he eventually was sent to a Scottish boarding school, Gordonstoun. He joined the British Royal Navy in 1939. The story goes that he had first met then-Princess Elizabeth when she was 13, and she immediately had developed a crush. They were to meet again years later, and a courtship followed. They married in 1947.