Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip shared a 74-year marriage that began in November 1947. He first captured her attention when she was 13, sparking a storied romance that produced four children: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward. Five years ago, on April 9, 2021, Philip passed away at age 99, leaving the Queen in deep mourning.

Prince Philip’s Retirement at Wood Farm Cottage

Royal author Hugo Vickers details Philip’s final years in his biography Queen Elizabeth II: A Personal History. After completing his last public engagement on August 2, 2017, as Captain-General of the Royal Marines—concluding 22,219 official duties—the Duke of Edinburgh retreated from the public eye.

Vickers notes that Philip lived freely at the five-bedroom Wood Farm Cottage on the Sandringham estate, where Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor briefly resided after losing his titles before relocating to Marsh Farm. “He was at his happiest at Wood Farm and he more or less settled there,” Vickers writes. “In the course of the next two and a half years, that was his home. He enjoyed his carriage-driving, read voraciously and painted a little.”

The Queen visited Norfolk by train for occasional weekends, granting him independence. “Once again she gave him a loose rein. In a sense they separated,” Vickers observes. Penny Romsey, the Countess Mountbatten, frequently stayed with him there.

Prince Philip’s Final Days and Health Battle

Philip received a pancreatic cancer diagnosis in 2013 and fought the illness for eight years. Vickers describes his last night: “The night before he died, he went along on his Zimmer frame to the Oak Room… and he was having a beer all by himself.”

Philip evaded his nurses, reluctant to reach 100. He bathed, felt unwell, lay down, and passed peacefully—two months short of the milestone and without the Queen at his side. “He absolutely did not want to be celebrated,” Vickers adds.