Some revelations come late, but they completely change the way you look back. Royal historian Hugo Vickers has just published a book on Queen Elizabeth II in which he reveals something that was kept secret for years: Prince Philip was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in June 2013, at the age of 91.
Prince Philip lived with the disease for eight years, until his death in April 2021 at Windsor Castle, just two months short of his 100th birthday.
What science says about Prince Philip’s cancer
Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers there are. According to Cancer Research UK, only five percent of patients survive five years or more after diagnosis, and most do not even undergo surgery because the disease is usually detected when it has already spread.
From a statistical perspective, it is extraordinary that Prince Philip lived with the disease for eight years and, moreover, continued to fulfill public commitments until 2017.
According to Vickers, when the diagnosis was confirmed, some people thought the Duke would never appear in public again. They were wrong. As the historian puts it, “the Duke outwitted the pessimists.”
Prince Philip’s final night
What struck me most when I read about this was the account of his last night. According to Vickers, Philip “tricked” his nurses, walked down the hallway using his walker, and poured himself a beer in the castle’s Oak Room. Alone. At 99 years old, after eight years of battling cancer, that’s how he chose to say goodbye.
Queen Elizabeth was not present when he died, and Vickers writes that she was “absolutely furious that, as so often in life, he left without saying goodbye.” That sentence says more about their 73-year relationship.
His official cause of death was recorded as “old age,” which, in retrospect, takes on a different meaning.
The funeral took place during the pandemic, with a severely limited attendance, and the image of Queen Elizabeth sitting alone wearing a mask in St. George’s Chapel went viral around the world.
She herself would pass away the following year at Balmoral, at the age of 96.