Royal Family News: The Early Family Life And Times Of The UK’s Late Prince Philip

British royal family news reveals the sad news that the UK’s monarchy lost a leading light today with the death of 99-year old Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

His life was as fascinating as it was selfless—he was considered to be one of the hardest working senior royals before his retirement.

Who was Prince Philip? He was royalty even before he married Queen Elizabeth who today is the world’s longest reigning sovereign.

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Royal Family News – Who Was Prince Philip?

Philip was born a Prince of Greece and Denmark. He was the fifth child and the only son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and his wife, Princess Alice of Battenberg. Amazingly, the prince made his entrance into the world when his mother gave birth on the dining table of a villa in Corfu!

Not long after Prince Philip’s birth his royal family was exiled. At the tender age of 18 months, the future husband of Queen Elizabeth made his escape in an orange crate on a British warship.

Royal Family News – Prince Philip Had An Eventful Life

Because of his age and status as the only male heir, Philip grew up apart from his sisters. Three of them, Margarita, Cecilie, and Sophie, married German aristocrats who became members of the Nazi party.

When Prince Philip’s third sister Princess Cecile was killed in a plane crash in 1937 along with her family, her relatives wore Nazi uniforms to the funeral.

Philip broke his decades-old silence about his family’s Nazi ties in 2006. At that time he said that like many Germans, his family found Hitler’s early attempts to restore Germany’s prestige “attractive” but stated that he was never, “conscious of anybody in the family actually expressing anti-Semitic views.”

Royal Family News – Philip Was A Rock For His Family

Philip’s opposition to the Nazis was never questioned. He fought for Britain during the war and saw action in the Battle of Crete, the Battle of Cape Matapan in Greece and the Allied invasion of Sicily.

His German ties were questioned when he and the Queen began dating however, and, unsurprisingly, none of Prince Philip’s sisters were invited to their wedding in 1947.

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Sadly, his mother Princess Alice was largely absent from Philip’s early life. She had a complex life that saw her survive exile and mental health issues and in the end she renounced her privileged life to become a nun.

It has been said that his separation from his mom at a young age strengthened Prince Philip’s marked sense of independence and self-reliance.

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