Yesterday, we reported that Prince Philip, the 99 year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth, had passed away at the age of 99. Now, his son Prince Charles is speaking out to pay an emotional tribute to his “dear papa.”
“I particularly wanted to say that my father, for I suppose the last 70 years, has given the most remarkable, devoted service to The Queen, to my family and to the country, but also to the whole of the Commonwealth,” Charles told reporters, according to Entertainment Tonight. “As you can imagine, my family and I miss my father enormously.”
“He was a much loved and appreciated figure and apart from anything else, I can imagine, he would be so deeply touched by the number of other people here and elsewhere around the world and the Commonwealth, who also I think, share our loss and our sorrow,” he added. “My dear Papa was a very special person who I think above all else would have been amazed by the reaction and the touching things that have been said about him and from that point of view we are, my family, deeply grateful for all that. It will sustain us in this particular loss and at this particularly sad time. Thank you.”
Philip’s death was announced by the palace on Friday morning.
“It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,” the palace said. “His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle.”
The Queen spoke out to pay tribute to Philip after his death, saying “He has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years, and I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than we would ever claim, or we shall ever know.”
“At the Queen’s Coronation in 1953, the Duke of Edinburgh swore to be Her Majesty’s ‘liege man of life and limb,'” read the caption of a post from the palace on Instagram. “The Duke was a devoted consort (companion to the Sovereign) for almost 70 years, from Her Majesty’s Accession in 1952 until his death.”
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