After the death of Prince Philip, the late Queen Elizabeth had a totally heartbreaking six-word reaction to the loss of her husband, who she had been married to for nearly 74 years
Whilst Philip always deferred to the late monarch in their public duties, due to the nature of her role as head of state, behind closed doors he wasn’t afraid to tell his wife his opinions in a typically “forthright manner” – as the Queen admitted during a speech celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. After Philip’s death in 2021, the late Queen had a totally heartbreaking reaction that expressed the difficulty of grief in just six simple words, a royal expert has revealed since her death.
The royal expert – Gyles Brandreth, former MP and royal author – was closely acquainted with both Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth for decades, made the revelation in his book Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait, which was released after the death of the former monarch. Brandreth wrote about the late Queen’s reaction to Philip’s death, and the contrast between how she coped behind closed doors compared to when she was conducting her royal duties. “Her grieving was private, but in public the Queen was determined to carry on as normal. ‘Life goes on,’ she said. ‘It has to,'” the expert claimed.
The expert also compared Elizabeth’s reaction to that of her famous ancestor Queen Victoria. “When Prince Albert died, Queen Victoria retreated from the world. When Prince Philip died, Queen Elizabeth II went towards it. She knew it was her Christian duty to carry on as best as she could. ‘There is no magic formula that will transform sorrow into happiness,’ she said, ‘but being busy helps.'”
The late Queen continued to carry out as many of her duties as she was able in the final 17 months of her life after Philip’s death, including a pared-back Trooping the Colour just a few weeks after the loss of her husband, which had been scaled down because of the social distancing restrictions that were in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brandreth also revealed that the day that Prince Philip passed away, he believed that the late Queen heartbreakingly was not by his side at the end – despite reports that claimed she was there. “The Queen was reported to have been at her husband’s bedside when he died on the morning of April 9, 2021. In fact, I don’t believe she was,” he wrote, claiming instead she was only called after a doctor had confirmed Philip’s death.
