Prince Philip news: Prince Harry flying back to UK to mourn with family

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Jessica Carpani
·5 min read
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​Prince Harry is hoping to arrive back in the UK as early as today after he scrambled to arrange a flight as soon as he was informed of the death of his grandfather.

He was hoping to board a flight in Los Angeles as early as Saturday night, with the hope that he could be back in time to quarantine and mourn with his grandmother, the Queen, his father the Prince of Wales and his brother the Duke of Cambridge.

The heavily pregnant Duchess of Sussex will not return for the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral on the advice of her doctors, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson confirmed yesterday.

With tensions in the family remaining high after the couple’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey, there had already been speculation that the Duchess would decide to remain in California rather than risk overshadowing the sombre occasion.

The prospect that the Duke might not have flown back to London for the funeral was never on the cards, sources insisted, stressing that he had remained in close contact with his relatives.

Follow the latest updates below.

06:09 AM

'Prince Philip wasn't just a great man, but a symbol of the nation'

The end of such a life, precisely because it has been a mark of continuity, seems to herald the end of an era, says Robert Tombs.

The spontaneous reaction of so many to the death of the Duke of Edinburgh is of sadness at the ending of a remarkable life. But it shows something more: that people feel the significance of this moment in the life of the nation, and many wish to make it in some way part of their own lives, as they would the death of a friend or relative.

Read the full story here.

05:55 AM

How turbulence and tragedy marked Prince Philip's childhood

Although he was married for more than 70 years to the most enduringly famous woman in the world, Prince Philip’s own origins remained strangely shrouded in obscurity. “I don’t think anybody thinks I had a father,” he remarked ruefully in the 1970s.

Born in Corfu on June 10, 1921, in the shadow of the First World War and Russian revolution, Philip’s was a childhood characterised by change.

By the time he was 18 months old, the family – his parents Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenberg, and four older sisters Margarita, Theodora, Cecile, Sophie – had been forced to flee Greece after a coup. Philip’s uncle, King George V, ordered a Royal Navy ship to collect them and facilitated their relocation to the outskirts of Paris, at St-Cloud, where they lived on handouts from relations. The young prince, sixth in line to the Greek throne, was famously carried to safety in a cot made from an orange box.

Read the full story

Prince Philip (left) in costume for a production of 'Macbeth' at his school, Gordonstoun in Scotland - Hulton Royals Collection
Prince Philip (left) in costume for a production of 'Macbeth' at his school, Gordonstoun in Scotland - Hulton Royals Collection

05:23 AM

Elizabeth and Philip: was theirs the last truly royal marriage?

The Queen’s marriage to the man whom her father created Duke of Edinburgh and a Royal Highness on the eve of their wedding, is the last example in British history of a royal, royal marriage.

None of the couple’s children or grandchildren has married fellow royals and it seems certain that future royal spouses will be commoners.

Read the full story

03:56 AM

Prince Philip had 'a righteous impatience', says Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, giving a reflection from the chapel at Lambeth Palace on Saturday evening, said Prince Philip had been someone with a "deep and genuine sense of service and humility".

He said: "It wasn't 'me, me, me'. It was about the world, about those he served, and in doing that his own role was more and more significant.

"He had a righteous impatience. He would not accept the status quo. If things were not right, he would say so and say so quickly, and clearly, and often bluntly.

"Prince Philip, also though, had a deep and genuine sense of service and humility."

He described him as someone who "knew the talents he had and what he could bring, and he brought them 100 per cent, at full throttle, right through his life".

03:29 AM

Public support helping Royal family through 'particularly sad time'

The Royal family are being helped through this "particularly sad time" by the public outpouring of support following the death of the "much-loved" Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales has said.

Speaking from his Gloucestershire home of Highgrove, Prince Charles said: "As you can imagine, my family and I miss my father enormously," and said Philip would be "deeply touched" by the people around the world sharing "our loss and our sorrow".

"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," Prince Charles said. "It will sustain us in this particular loss and at this particularly sad time."

01:11 AM

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