The Duke of Edinburgh has been remembered as a ‘people’s person’ by the Queen’s former press secretary as the royal celebrates his 99th birthday today.
Prince Philip is marking the day privately with the Queen, 94, at Windsor Castle, where they have been isolating since the start of the pandemic, although they are expected to video call other members of the family.
Now royal expert Dickie Arbiter, who was the Queen’s press secretary from 1988 to 2000, has revealed how ‘terrific’ Prince Philip was to work with.
According to Australian site 9Honey, he told the Today programme: ‘If you heard raucous laughter [on a walkabout], it was a whole crowd of women around him, behind a barrier, and he’d be talking to them and joking with them.’
Prince Philip, who is celebrating his 99th birthday with the Queen, 94, at Windsor Castle today, has been praised as ‘a people person’, according to a royal expert
The royal expert went on to say that the Duke always went the extra-mile to make children feel involved during royal engagements.
He recalled how Prince Philip would often walk 50 metres behind the Queen at engagements.
He explained: ‘He’d lift the children over the barrier, take their hands, walk them down to the Queen so they could hand over their flowers, and then take them back to their mothers.’
The Queen and Prince Philip have been in isolation at Windsor Castle since the start of lockdown, allowing them to spend more time together than they have done in ‘many years’, one expert noted.
The former royal press secretary said Prince Philip would leave crowds in ‘raucous laughter’ during appearances
Buckingham Palace last night released a new photograph of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to mark the milestone birthday.
The couple, who have been married for 73 years, were photographed last week standing side-by-side in the quadrangle at their residence.
The Duke of Edinburgh has spent much of his retirement at his cottage, Wood Farm, in the sanctuary of the Sandringham estate, more than 100 miles away from the Queen, who was usually at Buckingham Palace or at Windsor.
But they were reunited at the Berkshire castle three months ago for their safety after Philip was flown there by helicopter on March 19 ahead of lockdown.
The royal expert revealed how the Duke of Edinburgh would go the extra mile to include children at walk-abouts (pictured, in March 2013)
Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, said: ‘This must be the longest they’ve been under the same roof for many years, I would say. But it’s an opportunity for them in their later years to reconnect.’
He added: ‘It is the perfect royal cocooning.’
Royal expert Camilla Tominey agreed it is ‘arguably’ the most amount of time the Queen has spent with her husband in recent years. Speaking on This Morning today she said: ‘They’re there for the foreseeable future. It’s quite nice in a way that they are together when they wouldn’t have normally been this time of year.’
The royal is set to spend his birthday with the Queen at Windsor Castle, where they are currently in isolation together
She added that next year the Queen will send Prince Philip a telegram for his 100th birthday. ‘They are planning tentatively the 100th birthday celebration, of course, she’ll give him a telegram that’s what she does when people turn 100,’ Camilla said.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are staying with a reduced household of around 20 staff, dubbed Operation HMS Bubble, and Mr Little said the monarch and Philip most likely have lunch or dinner together each day while spending other time on their separate interests.
Philip keeps himself busy reading, writing and painting, and even released a rare public statement in April – his first since his retirement – praising key workers and those making sure that essential services are kept running during the coronavirus pandemic.